A Case Report of a Rapid Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Within Six Months of Hepatitis C Cure in an Individual With Risk Factors.

People with chronic liver disease are more likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), especially those with cirrhosis or fibrosis. Confounding variables, such as alcohol consumption, end-stage renal disease, and poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, can lead to detrimental outcomes such as the development of HCC since the liver is already damaged and in a recovery phase from the resolved hepatitis C infection. HCC should be a high differential diagnosis even in the absence of classical signs and symptoms of jaundice or weight loss given the resolved hepatitis C infection. In this case study, a 63-year-old male with a past medical history of intravenous (IV) drug use, chronic alcoholic cirrhosis, end-stage renal disease, and cured hepatitis C infection presented at the primary care office for a regular follow-up visit after getting discharged from the emergency department (ED). During a routine primary care visit, the patient complained of right upper quadrant pain, constipation, and intermittent dizziness. At the time, he also endorsed drinking a case of beer daily and a fifth of liquor monthly. He had a history of hepatitis C, which he acquired through IV drug use. He was successfully treated with a six-month course of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir with eradication of the virus. Before the primary care practitioner (PCP) visit, the patient had an ED visit for abdominal pain and chronic constipation, during which he underwent a non-contrast CT of the abdomen, with an incidental finding of a 2.4 cm liver mass in the right hepatic lobe. It was followed up with an MRI and CT-guided biopsy, the results of which showed poorly differentiated HCC.