Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Oncological Medicine
Volume 2013, Article ID 243939, 5 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/243939
Case Report
Hepatic Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma and the Danger of
Misdiagnosis: Report of a Case
Kyriakos Neofytou,
1
Andreas Chrysochos,
1
Nikolas Charalambous,
2
Menelaos Dietis,
1
Christos Petridis,
1
Charalampos Andreou,
1
and Athanasios Petrou
1
1
Department of Surgery, Nicosia Government Hospital, Palaios Dromos Lekosias-Lemesou, No. 215, 2029 Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus
2
Department of Radiology, Nicosia Government Hospital, Palaios Dromos Lekosias-Lemesou, No. 215, 2029 Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus
Correspondence should be addressed to Kyriakos Neofytou; kneophy2@gmail.com
Received 15 January 2013; Accepted 1 February 2013
Academic Editors: J. M. Buchanich, R. Palmirotta, and M. Romkes
Copyright © 2013 Kyriakos Neofytou et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Malignant hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) is a rare malignant tumor of vascular origin. Nonspeciic symptoms
and the absence of experience of surgeons, radiologists, and histopathologists due to the rarity of HEHE make the diagnosis of this
entity very challenging. Misdiagnosis is not a rare event, and the consequences of such an event are catastrophic. We report a case
of a patient sufering from HEHE in which the initial diagnosis was hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). he presence of normal
laboratory values, liver function tests, tumor markers along with the absence of a chronic liver disease, or any other predisposing
factors for HCC, was in contrast with the diagnosis of HCC. Clinical suspicion drove us to the repetition of a liver biopsy and
the reevaluation of the sample by a more experience histopathology department in liver tumors. he last biopsy conirmed the
diagnosis of HEHE, and the patient escaped any unnecessary treatment for a nonexisting HCC.
1. Case Presentation
A forty-nine-year old female patient presented with a right
upper quadrant pain. Based on her medical history, the
patient underwent thyroidectomy 6 months before because
of a papillary thyroid cancer that was not invading the
thyroid capsule (TNM staging PT1, PNX, PMX Anatomic
stage/Prognostic groups 45 years, and older Stage 1).
All of the patient laboratory tests were within nor-
mal limits including alkaline phosphatase (41 U/L), g-
glutamyl transpeptidase (14 U/L), aspartate aminotransferase
(16 U/L), alanine aminotransferase (12 U/L), and bilirubin
levels (0.44 mg/dL).
An abdominal ultrasound was scheduled which showed
several hypoechoic solid nodules, regarding both liver lobes,
with an irregular echogenic outline and a few of which with
multiple calciications. Immediately aterwards, an abdomi-
nal computed tomography was performed which conirmed
these lesions and the related calciications. Speciically,
hypodense lesions were seen with the largest of which in
the right liver lobe, with a maximum diameter of 3.7 cm
(Figure 1). Based on the above, the hypothesis of secondary
liver metastasis was proposed.
In the following days, both colonoscopy as well as
gastroscopy took place with no pathological indings. Tumor
markers including cancer embryonic antigen (CEA), alpha
fetoprotein (AFP), and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19–9 were
all within normal limits. hyroglobulin was measured at
0.2 ng/mL. A follow-up neck ultrasound did not reveal any
mass or enlarge lymph nodes, and I
131
whole body scan did
not demonstrate any thyroid remnant nor any metastasis.
As part of the patient diagnostic evaluation, in an attempt
to ind the possible primary tumor, a whole body magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) was performed. he results showed
no evidence of an extrahepatic disease.
Percutaneous liver biopsy from the largest liver lesion,
guided under computed tomography, showed massive
hepatic necrosis. he patient hepatitis serology was negative