Gingival Metastasis of Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma-Case Report

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cause of cancer mortality in Taiwan. The prognosis of HCC is poor if left untreated and there is no effective treatment for HCC with extrahepatic metastases. Oral metastasis of HCC is very rare and the usual site is the mandible or maxilla rather than the oral soft tissues. We treated a 57-year-old man who suffered from a rapidly growing mass in the upper gingiva one month after diagnosis of HCC with brain and lung metastasis. Palliative tumor excision was done due to repeated bleeding and occlusion difficulty. The pathology report revealed metastatic HCC. The symptoms improved after surgery but he died of hepatic failure one month later.