Korean J Gastroenterol.  2002 Sep;40(3):181-185.

Clinical Characteristics of Hepatic Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma

• Kim BJ
• Lee KT
• Lee JH
• Lee JH
• Lee JK
• Koh KC
• Paik SW
• Rhee JC
• Lim JH
• Park CK

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEH) is a rare vascular tumor of the liver. It poses special difficulties for clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment. Its clinical course and prognosis are variable. However, there are only a few case reports in Korea. Therefore, we studied the clinical characteristics of HEH which had been diagnosed and treated at our hospital.
METHODS
The clinical, radiological, and pathologic characteristics of 7 cases of HEH were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS
The patients included four males and three females and the mean age was 35.7 years. Six patients were asymptomatic and one patient complained of abdominal pain. Blood chemistry test showed abnormal results in two patients and alpha-FP was elevated in one patient. CT scan showed multiple hypoattenuated masses in the periphery of the liver. Ultrasono-guided liver mass biopsy was done for all cases. On immunohistochemical staining, factor VIII was positive in four cases, CD34 was positive in five cases. For the treatment, left lobectomy was performed in one case, chemotherapy in another case, and conservative management was done in the remaining cases. There was no significant disease progression during the follow-up period of 25.4 months.
CONCLUSIONS
HEH presents nonspecific symptoms and shows low grade malignancy and slow disease progression. Radiological examination and immunohistochemical study for biopsy specimen can be helpful for diagnosis.

Keyword

Hemangioendothelioma; epithelioid; Liver; Factor VIII; Antigens; CD34

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain
Biopsy
Chemistry
Diagnosis
Disease Progression
Drug Therapy
Factor VIII
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Hemangioendothelioma
Hemangioendothelioma, Epithelioid*
Humans
Korea
Liver
Male
Prognosis
Retrospective Studies
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Factor VIII