Acute pulmonary embolism in a patient with hepatitis C virus infection and hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report

BACKGROUND: Cardiac metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma patients are infrequently encountered and usually associated with a very poor prognosis. CASE PRESENTATION: Hereby, we report a case of an acute pulmonary embolism (PE) on top of HCC with direct cardiac invasion to the right atrium (RA) through the inferior vena cava with another metastasis to the right ventricular apex in the form of highly mobile cauliflower mass protruding through the tricuspid valve into RA and nearly obliterating right ventricular outflow tract in a multi-centric hepatocellular carcinoma patient. CONCLUSION: Acute dyspnea in a patient with a long history of hepatitis C virus infection raises the suspicion of acute PE due to either hypercoagulable state induced by malignancy or by cardiac extension of the tumor which usually carries high mortality rates. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the first case in the literature to show cardiac metastases in HCC with two different pathological mechanisms. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43044-021-00193-2.