[Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma and adrenal metastasis without intrahepatic metastasis detected 22 years after hepatic resection: a case report].

A 55-year-old man presented with general malaise in May 2012. On reviewing his clinical records in 1989, we found that he had a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the left lobe, for which he had undergone left lobectomy in November 1989. However, there was no record of any follow-up examination from 1996 to 2011. Computed tomography in May 2012 revealed a right adrenal gland tumor measuring 8.5×6.5cm, which we treated by right adrenalectomy. Postoperative pathological examination showed this to be a metastasis of poorly differentiated HCC. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has reported HCC recurrence such a long duration after HCC resection.