title: Sonographic appearance of lipoma of the inferior vena cava.
abstract: Lipomas of the major central veins are rare, and their sonographic features have rarely been reported. We report a case in which a lipoma of the inferior vena cava (IVC) was incidentally identified during liver sonography in a 68-year-old man. Sonography of the upper abdomen revealed coarsening of the liver echotexture, with a relatively small liver and atrophy of the right hepatic lobe. A 2-cm hypoechoic hepatic nodule was visualized in segment IV. Sonography also showed a 2.2- x 1.8-cm, highly echogenic, homogeneous nodule in the hepatic segment of the IVC at its junction with the right atrium. The lumen of the IVC was partially occluded. The CT and MRI appearances of the IVC lesion were consistent with a lipoma, which was not treated because there was no clinical evidence of obstruction. Histopathologic analysis following a sonographically guided biopsy of the liver nodule revealed hepatocellular carcinoma, which was treated by percutaneous ethanol injection.
authors: Department of Radiology, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, 201 Shih-Pai Road, Section 2, Taipei 11217, Taiwan.
authors: Y H
authors: YH
authors: Chou
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: Chiou
authors: C M
authors: CM
authors: Tiu
authors: J H
authors: JH
authors: Chiang
authors: C Y
authors: CY
authors: Chang
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Yu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008067:Lipoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009383:Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology