Case Report
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World J Gastrointest Surg. Mar 27, 2012; 4(3): 73-78
Published online Mar 27, 2012. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v4.i3.73
Primary hepatic benign schwannoma
Michihiro Hayashi, Atsushi Takeshita, Kazuhiro Yamamoto, Nobuhiko Tanigawa
Michihiro Hayashi, Nobuhiko Tanigawa, Department of General and Gastroenterological Surgery, Department of Pathology, Department of Radiology, Osaka Medical College Hospital, 2-7 Daigaku-machi, Takatsuki City, Osaka 569-8686, Japan
Atsushi Takeshita, Department of Pathology, Osaka Medical College Hospital, 2-7 Daigaku-machi, Takatsuki City, Osaka 569-8686, Japan
Kazuhiro Yamamoto, Department of Radiology, Osaka Medical College Hospital, 2-7 Daigaku-machi, Takatsuki City, Osaka 569-8686, Japan
Author contributions: Hayashi M designed research; Hayashi M, Takeshita A, Yamamoto K and Tanigawa N performed research; Hayashi M analyzed data; Hayashi M wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Michihiro Hayashi, MD, Department of General and Gastroenterological Surgery, Osaka Medical College Hospital, 2-7 Daigaku-machi, Takatsuki City, Osaka 569-8686, Japan. sur083@poh.osaka-med.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-72-683-1221 Fax: +81-72-685-2057
Received: January 8, 2011
Revised: March 3, 2012
Accepted: March 10, 2012
Published online: March 27, 2012
Abstract

Schwannoma is predominantly a benign neoplasm of the Schwann cells in the neural sheath of the peripheral nerves. Occurrence of schwannoma in parenchymatous organs, such as liver, is extremely rare. A 64-year-old man without neurofibromatosis was observed to have a space-occupying lesion of 23mm diameter in the liver during follow-up examination for a previously resected gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in the small intestine. He underwent lateral segmentectomy of the liver under a provisional diagnosis of hepatic metastatic recurrence of the GIST. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of a benign schwannoma, confirmed by characteristic pathological findings and positive immunoreactions with the neurogenic marker S-100 protein, but negative for c-kit, or CD34. The tumor was the smallest among the reported cases. When the primary hepatic schwannoma is small in size, preoperative clinical diagnosis is difficult. Therefore, this disease should be listed as differential diagnosis for liver tumor with clinically benign characteristics.

Keywords: Liver; Schwannoma; Benign liver tumor