PMID: 16619693Apr 20, 2006Paper

Mesenteric liposarcoma or lipodystrophy: an elusive diagnosis

JBR-BTR : Organe De La Société Royale Belge De Radiologie (SRBR) = Orgaan Van De Koninklijke Belgische Vereniging Voor Radiologie (KBVR)
A FremaultS Landen

Abstract

Mass lesions of the mesentery may be fortuitously encountered on computerized tomographic (CT) scans, posing a diagnostic challenge. Despite CT, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and a surgical biopsy, a patient with mesenteric lipodystrophy was misdiagnosed as having a low-grade mesenteric liposarcoma. Spontaneous regression of the mass on control CT scan and review of the pathological material prompted us to reconsider the diagnosis of malignancy. Because a wide variety of tumors and pseudotumors produce alterations in the density and volume of mesenteric fat on CT scan, a surgical biopsy is usually necessary to obtain a tissue-specific diagnosis, but even then pathological findings may be equivocal. As final resort the natural evolution assessed by radiological follow-up can be of help in determining the nature of the disease.

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