Magnetic resonance imaging features of minimal-fat angiomyolipoma and causes of preoperative misdiagnosis

• Published in: World journal of clinical cases Vol. 8; no. 12; pp. 2502 - 2509
• Main Authors: Li, Xiao-Long, Shi, Li-Xin, Du, Qi-Cong, Wang, Wei, Shao, Li-Wei, Wang, Ying-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baishideng Publishing Group Inc 26.06.2020
• Subjects: Retrospective Study
• ISSN: 2307-8960; 2307-8960
• DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i12.2502

BACKGROUNDMinimal-fat angiomyolipoma (mf-AML) is often misdiagnosed as renal cell carcinoma before surgery. AIMTo analyze the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of mf-AML and the causes of misdiagnosis by MRI before operation. METHODSA retrospective analysis was performed on ten patients with mf-AML confirmed by surgical pathology, all of whom underwent preoperative MRI examination to analyze the morphological characteristics and MRI signals of the tumor. RESULTSMRI revealed a circular-like mass in 4/10 (40%) patients, an oval mass in 6/10 patients (60%), a mass with a capsule in 9/10 patients (90%), and a mass with a lipid component in 7/10 patients (70%). The diameter of the masses in all ten patients was from 11 to 47 mm; the diameter was between 11 mm and 40 mm in 8/10 (80%) patients and between 40 mm and 47 mm in 2/10 (20%) patients. CONCLUSIONAn oval morphological characteristic is strong evidence for the diagnosis of mf-AML, while a capsule and lipids are atypical manifestations of mf-AML.