Ameet Dravid, Kartik Natarajan, Mahenderkumar Medisetty, Vinay Thorat, Sujit Joshi, Mahesh Mandolkar, Sujit Nilegaonkar, Deepak Phalgune, Chinmay Saraf, Milind Kulkarni and Padmaj Kulkarni
Primary small cell carcinoma of the liver is a rare tumor with few cases reported worldwide. We report a case of primary small cell carcinoma of the liver in a HIV/Hepatitis B co-infected patient on Tenofovir based virologically suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART). Patient presented with fatigue and vomiting, two years after starting ART. CT abdomen showed hepatomegaly with diffuse infiltration. Liver biopsy established a diagnosis of small cell cancer of liver. Immunohistochemistry results were positive for synaptophysin and CD56 while they were negative for Hep par antibody stain 1. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan suggested a diagnosis of malignant neoplasm in the liver. Chemotherapy was started which led to hyperacute liver failure. Patient recovered from liver failure and received 3 cycles of chemotherapy. PET scan done at 3 months showed complete regression of neoplasm but prior to start of 4th cycle, neoplasm relapsed, and patient died 15 days later. Here we discuss the clinical course and treatment of a case of primary small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the liver and review the literature regarding this rare cancer