Spontaneous acute epidural hematoma developed due to skull metastasis of hepatocelluar carcinoma: A case report and review of the literature.

Acute epidural hematoma (AEDH) is one of the most common pathological types of head trauma, and may develop without an accidental event, although this is uncommon. The present study reports the case of a 41-year-old male patient that developed spontaneous AEDH due to skull metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The man was admitted to Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital and Medical School due to drowsiness and right-sided hemiparesis. A computed tomography scan of the head revealed the presence of a large AEDH and a lytic bone lesion in the left posterior fossa and parieto-occipital region, which exhibited heterogeneous enhancement. The perioperative findings revealed a large amount of mixed-stage epidural hematoma and a soft hemorrhagic mass that exhibited lytic change on the occipital bone. No evidence of head trauma, such as skull fracture or scalp contusion, was detected. The pathological diagnosis was hematoma with metastatic HCC. The current study reports the rare case of a patient with a metastatic tumor located in the skull that resulted in the development of spontaneous AEDH. Once a sudden and unpredicted neurological deficit occurs in a patient with HCC that is also diagnosed with skull metastasis, the possibility of spontaneous AEDH developing from the metastasis should be considered.