Renal Angiomyolipoma Mimicking a Well-Differentiated Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma

Abstract EN

A 37-year-old Burmese woman presented with an incidentally found retroperitoneal fat-containing tumor.

The tumor was 9 cm in the longest diameter, surrounding the right kidney, and composed of homogenous adipose tissue with thickened septum-like structures and spotty nonadipose structures, which were enhanced on contrast-enhanced computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

The tumor did not show either a beak sign or synchronous angiomyolipoma-like lesion in the kidneys.

The tumor had irregular septa, thin blood vessels, and spotty small soft-tissue nodules.

The tumor did not contain any heterogeneously enhanced solid lesions suspicious for dedifferentiated liposarcomas.

Based on these imaging findings, a clinical diagnosis of a well-differentiated liposarcoma was made.

Under the consensus of a multidisciplinary cancer board, she was recommended to undergo core-needle biopsy to confirm the clinical diagnosis.

However, she declined to undergo biopsy for financial reasons.

She underwent kidney-sparing retroperitoneal tumor resection.

Histopathologically, the tumor was an angiomyolipoma with positive immunostaining for HMB45 and Melan A.

The present case suggests the importance of core-needle biopsy prior to surgical intervention for retroperitoneal fat-containing tumors.