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Question

59yo male, with a history 27-pack-year history of smoking, presents to your primary care clinic for follow-up after a motor vehicle accident. He was evaluated in the local ED and was found to have a two masses on his liver on abdominal CT. What is the most likely cause of these lesions?

Answer

The most likely cause of this patient’s liver lesions is metastatic disease from distant primary malignancy. Hepatic metastases are 18-40 times more common than primary liver tumors due to the fact that liver is the primary filter for the body. In this particular patient, screening for lung cancer would be high on the list given his smoking history and a contrasted CT scan of the chest revealed a primary lung mass.

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References

1. Radiopaedia. Hepatic Metastases. https://radiopaedia.org/articles/hepatic-metastases-1
2. Ananthakrishnan A, Gogineni V, Saeian K. Epidemiology of primary and secondary liver cancers. Seminars in interventional radiology. 2006; 23(1):47-63. [pubmed]