Sonographic appearance of lipoma of the inferior vena cava

✍ Scribed by Yi-Hong Chou; Hong-Jen Chiou; Chui-Mei Tiu; Jen-Huey Chiang; Cheng-Yen Chang; Chun Yu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 313 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0091-2751
• DOI: 10.1002/jcu.1049

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Lipomas of the major central veins are rare, and their sonographic features have rarely been reported. We report a case in which a lipoma of the inferior vena cava (IVC) was incidentally identified during liver sonography in a 68‐year‐old man. Sonography of the upper abdomen revealed coarsening of the liver echotexture, with a relatively small liver and atrophy of the right hepatic lobe. A 2‐cm hypoechoic hepatic nodule was visualized in segment IV. Sonography also showed a 2.2‐ × 1.8‐cm, highly echogenic, homogeneous nodule in the hepatic segment of the IVC at its junction with the right atrium. The lumen of the IVC was partially occluded. The CT and MRI appearances of the IVC lesion were consistent with a lipoma, which was not treated because there was no clinical evidence of obstruction. Histopathologic analysis following a sonographically guided biopsy of the liver nodule revealed hepatocellular carcinoma, which was treated by percutaneous ethanol injection. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 29:359–362, 2001.