A Rare Metastatic Liver Cancer: Hemangiopericytoma

ABSTRACT

Hemangiopericytoma is a rare tumor, and especially when it arises in the peritoneal cavity. We present here the case of a 60-year-old woman with an isolated recurrent hemangiopericytoma in the liver. The patient presented to us for evaluation of palpable RUQ mass 7 years after she had undergone her first resection of a malignant hemangiopericytoma arising from the greater omentum. She has been lost to follow up 6 months after the first surgery. Various imaging studies showed a single large liver tumor that was hypervascular, well-capsulated and had central necrosis. She was negative for HBs-Ag and Anti-HCV. Under an impression of the recurrent malignant hemangiopericytoma, a right trisegmentectomy was performed for complete resection of the tumor. The pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of recurrent hemangiopericytoma. Even though the incidence of hemangiopericytomas is low, malignant hemangiopericytomas have displayed frequent recurrences after long disease- free periods. A recurrent hemangiopericytoma is not easily detected early during follow-up until it is symptomatic because this tumor has no specific tumor marker and it has diverse sites of recurrence. We think that Positron Emission Tomogram (PET) can be a useful tool for detection of recurrent hemangiopericytoma. We describe herein the clinically relevant information about hemangiopericytomas, and we particulary focus on the features of this tumor after the surgical resection.