Case Report
Copyright ©2007 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2007; 13(40): 5403-5407
Published online Oct 28, 2007. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v13.i40.5403
Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia of the liver: A case report and review of literature
Takuro Machida, Toshiyuki Takahashi, Tomoo Itoh, Michiaki Hirayama, Takayuki Morita, Shoichi Horita
Takuro Machida, Michiaki Hirayama, Shoichi Horita, Department of Internal Medicine, Hokkaido Gastroenterology Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-0041, Japan
Toshiyuki Takahashi, Department of Pathology, Hokkaido Gastroenterology Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-0041, Japan
Tomoo Itoh, Department of Pathology, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8648, Japan
Takayuki Morita, Department of Surgery, Hokkaido Gastroenterology Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-0041, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Toshiyuki Takahashi, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Hokkaido Gastroenterology Hospital, Honcho 1-1-2-10, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-0041, Japan. ricoh@hgh.or.jp
Telephone: +81-11-7841811-540 Fax: +81-11-7841838
Received: June 28, 2007
Revised: August 6, 2007
Accepted: September 4, 2007
Published online: October 28, 2007
Abstract

A case of a 53-year-old female patient with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (RLH), clinically designated as pseudolymphoma of the liver is described in this article. The patient was admitted to our hospital for further evaluation of hepatic tumors incidentally discovered at another hospital. Various diagnostic methods, including ultrasonography (US), computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and hepatic angiography displayed three small lesions in the liver with outstanding findings consistent with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Surgical resection was performed and the three lesions were microscopically diagnosed as RLH of the liver. The lesions comprised a massive infiltration of lymphoid cells with follicles and hyalinized inter-follicular spaces. Immunohistochemical examination revealed that infiltrating lymphocytes had no prominent nuclear atypia and polyclonality. RLH of the liver is a very rare condition and only twelve cases have been reported in the English literature. Majority of the reported cases were middle-aged women and about half of them had some immunologic abnormalities such as autoimmune thyroiditis, Sjogren's syndrome, primary immunodeficiency, primary biliary cirrhosis. Since they are often clinically misdiagnosed as HCC, surgery is the choice of treatment for these patients. Although their pathology resembles malignant lymphoma, the clinical course is completely benign. The authors propose that RLH of the liver can be discriminated from HCC by its clinical features.

Keywords: Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia; Pseudo-lymphoma; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Autoimmune thyroiditis; Immunohistochemistry