Symptomatic pituitary metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report and literature review.

Pituitary metastasis is a rare situation in clinical practice and has been estimated to take up no more than 1% of tumors found in sellar region, in which the incidence of a secondary metastatic lesion to the sella by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is extremely rare, only 15 cases of which has been reported yet. The aim of this study is to share the detailed procedures and clinical strategies of this rare case and review the whole 15 HCC-derived PM cases since 1857. We present an extremely rare case of an HCC metastasis to the pituitary gland with his condition and clinical course. We then discuss the dominant diagnosis and clinical therapy of HCC-derived PM and review the literature. This case demonstrated the difficulties encountered in the diagnosis of PM and the need for accurate judgment when confronting pituitary tumors with atypical features. In addition, the appropriate therapy needs to be well considered, because of the poor prognosis and severe symptoms. Abbreviations: CTA: computed tomography angiography; ETTS: endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal surgery; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; ICA: internal carotid artery; PET-CT: positron emission tomography-computed tomography; PM: pituitary metastasis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]