Intrahepatic splenosis mimicking liver metastasis in a patient with gastric cancer

J Gastric Cancer. 2011 Mar;11(1):64-8. doi: 10.5230/jgc.2011.11.1.64. Epub 2011 Mar 31.

Abstract

A 54 year old man was referred to our hospital with gastric cancer. The patient had a history of splenectomy and a left nephrectomy as a result of a traffic accident 15 years earlier. The endoscopic findings were advanced gastric cancer at the lower body of the stomach. Abdominal ultrasonography (USG) and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a metastatic nodule in the S2 segment of the liver. Eventually, the clinical stage was determined to be cT2cN1cM1 and a radical distal gastrectomy, lateral segmentectomy of the liver were performed. The histopathology findings confirmed the diagnosis of intrahepatic splenosis, omental splenosis. Hepatic splenosis is not rare in patients with a history of splenic trauma or splenectomy. Nevertheless, this is the first report describing a patient with gastric cancer and intrahepatic splenosis that was misinterpreted as a liver metastatic nodule. Intra-operative USG guided fine needle aspiration should be considered to avoid unnecessary liver resections in patients with a suspicious hepatic metastasis.

Keywords: Liver; Neoplasm metastasis; Splenosis; Stomach neoplasms.

Publication types

  • Case Reports