A Case of Hepatic Angiosarcoma Difficult to Differentiate from Polycystic Liver Disease

Masanori Kishinaka, Yasunobu Shimizu, Hidetoshi Matsunami and Yoko Ikeda*

Division of Surgery and Pathology*, Matsunami General Hospital

A 61 year-old woman with abdominal fullness and jaundice due to polycystic liver disease was transferred to our hospital for liver transplantation. Blood examination was compatible with DIC, the liver was severely enlarged, and the cyst component was irregular due to bleeding. The diagnosis by radiology was compatible with liver cysts. After 14 days, she died and a liver cyst was diagnosed as angiosarcoma by autopsy. The diagnosis indicated contraindication of transplantation. Polycystic liver is benign disease and hepatic angiosarcoma is malignant disease without standard therapy. Although it is not difficult to differentiate polycystic liver disease from angiosarcoma, biopsy is needed to decide the diagnosis when the clinical course is unusual. Definite diagnosis is needed because the therapies are different between polycystic liver disease and hepatic angiosarcoma. If a patient's general condition is not satisfactory, radiological and clinical approaches are the only way to confirm the diagnosis.

Key words
polycystic liver disease, hepatic angiosarcoma, liver transplantation

Reprint requests
Masanori Kishinaka Division of Surgery, Matsunami General Hospital
185-1 Dendai, Kasamatsu-cho, Hashima-gun, Gifu, 501-6062 JAPAN

Accepted
October 29, 2003

To read the PDF file you will need Abobe Reader installed on your computer.