Gingival metastasis from primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Report of a case.

A case of primary hepatocellular carcinoma metastatic to the gingiva is described. Hepatocellular carcinoma is an uncommon malignancy, generally occurring in a cirrhotic liver, which rarely metastasizes to the maxillofacial area. Of eight such cases in the English-language literature, the present case is the fourth involving metastasis to the gingiva. Hepatocellular carcinoma would seem to metastasize with equal frequency to the gingiva and to the mandibular bone. In the case described, histologic examination of the gingival lesion definitively established the diagnosis following somewhat equivocal results of needle biopsy of the liver.