Hepatic Sarcoid-Like Reaction Mimicking Liver Metastases in a 36-Year-Old Female With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Hepatic and splenic sarcoidosis are still challenging issues for medical imaging, and in many cases, medical images can’t exclude the most common mimic of sarcoidosis which is liver metastases; therefore, a liver biopsy is required. A young female patient who had rheumatoid arthritis presented to our hospital with abdominal pain, anorexia, and weight loss for the past three weeks. She was admitted to the acute medical ward and treated with intravenous fluid hydration for hypercalcemia. Her liver function tests were deranged (anicteric cholestasis picture), and her etanercept medication was stopped after being reviewed by the rheumatologist and gastroenterologist. She had a CT and MRI scan of the abdomen, an ultrasound (US) of the abdomen with enhanced contrast, and a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. The radiological findings could not exclude liver metastases, but an ultrasound-guided liver biopsy confirmed the finding of hepatic granulomatous changes of sarcoidosis. Her symptoms and hypercalcemia resolved, and her liver functions gradually normalized.