Inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver: report of eight cases, including three unusual cases, and a literature review.
BACKGROUND
Inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT) of the liver is a rare but increasingly recognized tumor-like lesion. This condition is becoming an important differential diagnosis in patients with hepatic space-occupying lesions. This study reports the clinical features of eight cases of IPT of the liver, including the first report of three cases with an unusual associated disease or clinical course.


METHODS
The study sample included cases of IPT diagnosed based on the histopathology in our institution from 1995 to 2004. Clinical events were reported and compared with reports in the literature.


RESULTS
The age of the patients ranged from 28 to 78 years. The most common symptoms were abdominal pain, fever and bodyweight loss. Three patients were diagnosed incidentally. The initial clinical diagnoses were hepatocellular carcinoma in three cases, liver abscess in two cases, metastasis in one case and uncertain nature in two cases. Two cases were associated with preceding endophthalmitis and cholangiocarcinoma, respectively. Two patients had spontaneous lesion regression, but one of these had possible recurrence 10 months later. The other two patients experienced resolution of their lesions following antibiotic treatment. Four patients underwent surgical resection with subsequent recovery.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical and imaging features of IPT in this small series were found to sometimes mimic those of malignant liver tumors or abscess. Surgical resection was performed in half of the cases. However, IPT of the liver could resolve spontaneously or following antibiotics treatment.
Tsou
Yung-Kuan
YK
Liver Research Unit, Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Lin
Chun-Jung
CJ
Liu
Nai-Jen
NJ
Lin
Chen-Chun
CC
Lin
Cheng-Hui
CH
Lin
Shi-Ming
SM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D006104:Granuloma, Plasma Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed