• Yoshitaka Kurisu, Motomu Tsuji, Atsushi Takeshita, Kouichi Hirata, and Yuro Shibayama.
• Department of Pathology, Osaka Medical College, Daigaku-Machi 2-7, Osaka 569-8686, Japan. pa1021@art.osaka-med.ac.jp
• Acta Cytol. 2010 Sep 1;54(5 Suppl):989-92.

BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma metastasizing to the nasal cavity is rare, but nasal bleeding caused by it is difficult to treat. The reason is that a large majority of patients have a bleeding tendency due to liver cirrhosis. Accordingly, early and correct diagnosis is essential.CasesCase 1, a Japanese man in therapy for C type liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, was diagnosed as metastasis to the bones, and then he was admitted. After hospitalization, he complained of nasal obstruction. Fine needle aspiration biopsy from a tumor occupying nasal and maxillary cavities showed overlapped cells and scattered cells having a round to oval nucleus containing one or a few large nucleoli. The characteristics of cells indicated metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. In case 2, a Japanese man under treatment for liver cancer visited our hospital with a complaint of nasal obstruction. In fine needle aspiration biopsy from a mass in the right nasal cavity, cohesive clusters and sparse neoplastic cells similar to those observed in the first case were found.ConclusionAspiration cytology is useful in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma metastatic to the nasal cavity. Finding characteristic cells is important in the diagnosis. Clinical information is sure to be a convincing clue.

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