Imaging of a glomus tumor of the liver in a child

Abstract

Glomus tumors occur preferentially in the subcutaneous tissue of the fingers and toes, but are extremely rare in visceral organs. Although, there have been several reports of glomus tumors in the liver in adult patients, there have yet been no publications reporting glomus tumors of the liver in children. Here, we report a case of an 11-year-old girl who was admitted with a 2-week history of progressive dyspnea on exertion and vomiting. Upon physical examination, she was found to have hypertension and a palpated smooth, firm mass at the epigastrium. Abdominal MRI revealed a well-defined exophytic hypervascular mass with intratumoral hemorrhage at segment 3/4b of the liver. Ultrasound-guided biopsy revealed it to be a glomus tumor. An ultrasound conducted at a 1-month follow-up after preoperative embolization revealed that the mass had decreased in size. A subsequent exploratory laparotomy with left hepatectomy was performed and the histologic results confirmed the diagnosis.

Keywords: Glomangioma; Glomus tumor; Hepatic tumor; Hypervascular liver tumor; MRI; Magnetic resonance imaging.