Endobronchial metastasis (EBM) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rare though HCC often metastasizes to the lungs. In this case report, a 74-year-old man with a history of HCC with chronic hepatitis C experienced hemoptysis and a dry cough. During immunotherapy for postoperative recurrent HCC, chest computed tomography (CT) revealed soft tissue shadows in the right upper and lower lobe bronchi, and we pathologically diagnosed as EBM of HCC using bronchoscopy. Although the prognosis of HCC with EBM is poor, lenvatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was administered and resulted in improved symptoms, decreased tumour markers, and reduced EBM shadows on chest CT scans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of lenvatinib monotherapy for EBM of HCC. It is important to perform a bronchoscopy for early diagnosis of EBM, followed by lenvatinib treatment.
Keywords: bronchoscopy; endobronchial metastasis; hepatocellular carcinoma; lenvatinib.
© 2023 The Authors. Respirology Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.