1. Unusual case of iron overload with cancer-mimicking abdominal splenosis.
- Author
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Marchi G, Avesani G, Zamò A, and Girelli D
- Subjects
- Abdominal Neoplasms diagnosis, Diagnosis, Differential, Humans, Liver diagnostic imaging, Liver pathology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Iron Overload diagnosis, Splenectomy adverse effects, Splenosis diagnosis, Splenosis etiology, Stomach Diseases diagnosis
- Abstract
A 48-year-old man, former alcohol abuser and drug addicted, was referred to our tertiary referral centre for iron disorders because of marked hyperferritinaemia. His clinical history revealed chronic hepatitis C, ß-thalassaemia trait and post-traumatic splenectomy at age of 22. MRI-estimated liver iron content was markedly elevated, while first-line genetic test for haemochromatosis was negative. Alpha-fetoprotein was increased but liver ultrasonography did not reveal focal liver lesions. Multiphasic contrast-enhanced CT confirmed this result but showed two abdominal masses (diameter of 9 cm and 7 cm, respectively) among bowel loops, strongly suspicious for cancer. However, biopsy of one of the masses led to the final diagnosis of abdominal splenosis., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)
- Published
- 2018
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