BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has a propensity to develop distant metastases at a high rate and with poor prognosis. Metastatic sites are usually multifocal and involve bones, lungs, liver and distant lymph nodes. Management of metastatic disease is essentially palliative and is based on chemotherapy.
METHODS: A 50-year-old man with a solitary liver metastasis from a newly diagnosed NPC was treated by segmentectomy. Prior to surgery, neoadjuvant chemo-therapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy was administered.
RESULTS: Complete remission of the primary disease was achieved, although the size of the hepatic lesion was increased. After resection of the liver metastasis, no signs of local or distant recurrence was noted during the 6-month follow up.
CONCLUSION: Although surgical treatment has a limited role in metastatic NPC, there are rare cases of localized disease with a reasonable outcome after resection.