Nephrectomy for a renal metastasis of undiagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma arising from an orthotopic liver transplant undertaken for cryptogenic cirrhosis.

Abstract

Urological involvement of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rare; HCC arising in an orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) is exceptionally rare. Here we report the case of a 70-year-old man who was incidentally found to have metastatic HCC in the right kidney arising from his OLT undertaken for cryptogenic cirrhosis 10 years previously. Adding to the complexity of this case was the lack of an obvious liver primary HCC at the time of the radical nephrectomy, thus making the final diagnosis all but impossible. We believe this report represents the first report of HCC metastasizing to the kidney after OLT and adds to the few reports in the literature of HCC arising in transplanted livers.