Esophageal leiomyoma: radiologic findings in 12 patients.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of our study was to describe and compare the radiologic findings of esophageal leiomyomas.


METHODS
The chest radiographic (n = 12), esophagographic (n = 12), CT (n = 12), and MR (n = 1) findings of surgically proven esophageal leiomyomas in 12 consecutive patients [ten men and two women aged 34 - 47 (mean, 39) years] were retrospectively reviewed.


RESULTS
The tumors, surgical specimens of which ranged from 9 to 90 mm in diameter, were located in the upper (n = 1), middle (n = 5), or lower esophagus (n = 6). In ten of the 12 patients, chest radiography revealed the tumors as mediastinal masses. Esophagography showed them as eccentric, smoothly elevated filling defects in 11 patients and a multilobulated encircling filling defect in one. In 11 of the 12 patients, enhanced CT scans revealed a smooth (n = 9) or lobulated (n = 2) tumor margin, and attenuation was homogeneously low (n = 7) or iso (n = 4). In one patient, the tumor signal seen on T2-weighted MR images was slightly high.


CONCLUSIONS
Esophageal leiomyomas, located mainly in the middle or distal esophagus, are consistently shown by esophagography to be mainly eccentrically elevated filling defects and at CT, lesions showing homogeneous low or isoattenuation are demonstrated.
Yang
P S
PS
Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
K S
KS
Lee
S J
SJ
Kim
T S
TS
Choo
I W
IW
Shim
Y M
YM
Kim
K
K
Kim
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004947:Esophagus / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007889:Leiomyoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed