Budd-Chiari syndrome as an initial presentation of hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report

We report the case of a 84-year-old admitted with symptoms of congestive heart failure. Ultrasonography revealed a hyperechoic nodule in the left lobe of the liver, with a peripheral hypoechoic rim, multiple irregular hypoechoic nodules in both hepatic lobes, portal vein, inferior vena cava, and right atrium thrombosis. On ultrasonographic and alpha-fetoprotein criteria the case was interpreted as hepatocellular carcinoma with Budd-Chiari syndrome. The particularity of the case is the initial presentation of the hepatocellular carcinoma as Budd-Chiari syndrome. The inferior vena cava and right atrium thrombosis, as a cause of secondary Budd-Chiari syndrome in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma, has been rarely reported.