Ultrasound plays a key role in imaging and management of genital angiomyofibroblastoma: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Angiomyofibroblastoma is a benign, rare mesenchymal tumor arising from the genital tract of both men and women and was first described by Fletcher and colleagues in 1992. The tumor needs to be distinguished from other, similar lesions, such as deep and superficial aggressive angiomyxoma and cellular angiofibroma, because aggressive angiomyxoma demands much more extensive treatment. The vast majority of angiomyofibroblastomas arise from the vulva and appear as solid cystic masses on ultrasound images. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 35-year-old Caucasian woman with an angiomyofibroblastoma arising from the vagina. She presented with a painless mass of about 5cm in diameter that had a rather homogeneous, hypoechoic appearance on ultrasound images. The patient underwent surgical resection of the mass, which was subsequently diagnosed as angiomyofibroblastoma. We present sonographic and magnetic resonance imaging findings, intraoperative and histologic images, and a thorough review of the literature. CONCLUSIONS: In our opinion, ultrasonography is the most valuable tool to establish a preoperative diagnosis of this tumor entity, differentiate it from other lesions of the female genital tract, and plan surgery accordingly. Even though it is a rare tumor, gynecologists should be able to recognize it and to differentiate it from other tumor entities that demand more aggressive treatment. We describe a different sonographic appearance of this tumor than previously reported. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13256-015-0715-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.