Application of Nuclear Medicine Liver-Spleen Scan for Evaluation of Littoral Cell Angioma of the Spleen: A Case Report

TL;DR

This case report describes a rare spleen tumor called littoral cell angioma and shows how nuclear imaging can help diagnose it before surgery.

Contribution

The paper highlights the use of nuclear medicine liver-spleen scans as a preoperative diagnostic tool for littoral cell angioma.

Findings

Nuclear imaging showed a photopenic region consistent with a benign hemorrhagic mass, later confirmed as LCA.

Histopathology confirmed LCA with CD68+ and CD31+ expression, showing its dual cell origin.

The case supports a link between LCA and hematologic malignancies, possibly due to immune dysregulation.

Abstract

Littoral cell angioma (LCA) is a rare primary splenic vascular neoplasm originating from the littoral cells of the reticuloendothelial system. Splenectomy is the accepted mode of definitive diagnosis and treatment. With fewer than 200 reported cases, LCA remains poorly understood. Herein, we provide an enhanced insight into its histology and highlight the role of nuclear imaging in aiding LCA diagnosis. A 63-year-old female with a history of stage II multiple myeloma (MM) and rheumatoid arthritis was incidentally found to have a slowly enlarging splenic mass over a 6-year period. Given her candidacy for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for MM, further evaluation of the splenic lesion was pursued using nuclear medicine (NM) liver-spleen scan, which revealed a photopenic region consistent with a benign hemorrhagic mass. Subsequent splenectomy and histopathological analysis confirmed the diagnosis of LCA, with immunohistochemistry demonstrating CD68+ and CD31+ expression, highlighting LCA’s unique dual histiocytic and endothelial character. This case highlights the diagnostic challenge posed by LCA due to its nonspecific clinical presentation and imaging findings. While splenectomy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, our findings suggest that NM liver-spleen scan imaging may aid in differentiating LCA from malignant splenic masses preoperatively. Furthermore, this case reinforces the association between LCA and hematologic malignancies, supporting the hypothesis that immune dysregulation may play a role in its pathogenesis. This underscores the importance of considering LCA in the differential diagnosis of splenic masses, particularly in cases involving a history of malignancy and/or immune system abnormalities.

Figures