Intrahepatic splenosis mimicking liver cancer: report of a case and review of literature

Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2015 Jan 1;8(1):1031-5. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Intrahepatic splenosis is a rare situation occurred after traumatic splenic rupture or splenectomy. We report a 33 year old man with multiple isolated liver masses indistinguishable from primary and metastatic liver tumor by standard evaluation. The man underwent a splenectomy due to trauma at the age of three so that the hepatic splenosis was suspected. The final fine-needle biopsy pathological examination proved the diagnosis of intrahepatic splenosis. The importance of suspicion for this diagnosis should be highlighted when tumor-like lesions disclosed on imaging occurs in a patient with a splenic injury in the past. (99m)Tc labelled heat-denatured erythrocyte scintigraphy can be helpful to the diagnosis since it may avoid the performance of biopsies or surgical resections.

Keywords: Splenosis; computed tomography; hepatic cell carcinoma; magnetic resonance imaging; pathology.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Traffic
  • Adult
  • Age of Onset
  • Biopsy, Fine-Needle
  • Child, Preschool
  • Diagnosis, Differential*
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Male
  • Splenectomy
  • Splenosis / diagnosis*