Zhao Y, Bie YK, Zhang GY, Feng YB, Wang F. Rare and lacking typical clinical symptoms of liver tumors: Four case reports. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2024; 16(10): 4264-4273 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i10.4264]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Feng Wang, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Ankang Central Hospital, No. 85 Jinzhou South Road, Ankang 725000, Shaanxi Province, China. dim1230@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2024; 16(10): 4264-4273 Published online Oct 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i10.4264
Rare and lacking typical clinical symptoms of liver tumors: Four case reports
Yun Zhao, Yu-Kun Bie, Guang-Ya Zhang, Yi-Bin Feng, Feng Wang
Yun Zhao, Yu-Kun Bie, Guang-Ya Zhang, Yi-Bin Feng, Feng Wang, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Ankang Central Hospital, Ankang 725000, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao Y designed the study and wrote the article; Bie YK was responsible for the imaging data and data analysis; Zhang GY was responsible for the pathology data and analysis; Feng YB performed the surgeries and treatment plan; Wang F was responsible for patient management and signing of the consent for treatment and research; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patients for publication of these reports and all accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors report relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: We have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Feng Wang, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Ankang Central Hospital, No. 85 Jinzhou South Road, Ankang 725000, Shaanxi Province, China. dim1230@163.com
Received: April 16, 2024 Revised: August 30, 2024 Accepted: September 6, 2024 Published online: October 15, 2024 Processing time: 163 Days and 7.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Rare liver tumors (RLTs) have an extremely low likelihood of forming, and some have been recorded only in isolated cases. The lack of normal clinical symptoms in RLTs makes preoperative diagnosis extremely challenging, which results in frequent misinterpretation. The present case report helps enhance our ability to recognize and treat uncommon liver tumor disorders.
CASE SUMMARY
We describe four distinct examples of rare liver tumor diseases. These cases were all true cases with no conventional clinical signs or imaging findings. In all patients, hepatic occupancy was discovered on physical examination, which raised the preoperative suspicion of hepatic cancer. All tumors were surgically removed, and postoperative histology and immunohistochemistry were performed to confirm the diagnosis. The first patient had primary hepatic fibrosarcoma. The second case involved a primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumors. These two patients had malignant liver tumors, and both had extremely satisfactory surgical outcomes. The third case involved focal hepatic steatosis, and the fourth case involved a single necrotic nodule in the liver. These two patients had benign liver tumors, but they had already undergone surgery and did not require any postoperative care.
CONCLUSION
The number of patients with RLTs is small, and the clinical and imaging results are vague. Preoperative diagnosis is challenging, and patients are sometimes mistakenly diagnosed with liver cancer, which leads to unnecessary surgical therapy in certain individuals.
Core Tip: To exclude rare liver tumors in patients with atypical liver tumors, imaging should be performed multiple times before surgery. If necessary, preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography may be performed to persuade the patient to undergo a liver puncture biopsy. If there is still no evidence of cancer in the patient, then liver surgery should be avoided, and short-term follow-up may be considered.
