Hepatic pseudocystic metastasis of well-differentiated ileal neuroendocrine tumor: a case report with review of the literature

ABSTRACT: Imaging appearance of cyst-like changes is most frequently described in primary neuroendocrine lesions, especially pancreatic NETs. The imaging finding of a pseudocystic lesion of the liver puts in differential diagnosis many pathologies such as infectious diseases, simple biliary cysts up to biliary cystadenomas and eventually to primary or metastatic malignancies. Primary or metastatic hepatic malignancies with pseudocystic aspects are rare, and a pseudocystic aspect is reported only after neo-adjuvant treatment. Liver metastasis of untreated neuroendocrine tumors are usually solid and, to our knowledge, only two cases of neuroendocrine cystic hepatic metastases of ileal atypical carcinoids have been reported so far. We present a case of a 67 years old man with synchronous finding of an untreated hepatic pseudocystic lesion and an ileal mass histologically diagnosed as a well differentiated (G1) neuroendocrine tumor. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slides for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1443883503102967.