# Diagnosis of a Liver Lymphangioma Using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography (CEUS): Single Case Report

**Authors:** Elīza Marta Budava, Ieva Pūce, Kalvis Kaļva, Nauris Zdanovskis

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/reports9010059 · Reports - Clinical Practice and Surgical Cases · 2026-02-13

## TL;DR

A rare case of adult liver lymphangioma was diagnosed using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, showing its potential as a valuable diagnostic tool.

## Contribution

Demonstrates the effectiveness of CEUS in diagnosing a rare adult hepatic lymphangioma.

## Key findings

- CEUS provided real-time diagnostic data and tissue-perfusion information for a hepatic lymphangioma.
- CEUS proved valuable for follow-up and diagnosis, reducing the need for repeated CT and MRI scans.
- The case highlights CEUS as a primary diagnostic tool when combined with biopsy.

## Abstract

Background and Clinical Significance: CEUS enhances the visualization of vascular patterns within liver lesions, enabling differentiation between benign and malignant lesions, including hemangiomas, focal nodular hyperplasia, and hepatocellular carcinoma, with high accuracy. Lymphangiomas are rare benign lymphatic-system tumors, with intra-abdominal lymphangiomas accounting for approximately 5% of cases, most of which occur in the pediatric population. Intra-abdominal lymphangiomas commonly occur in multiple localizations due to lymphangiomatosis, but solitary lymphangiomas in adults are rare and easy to be misdiagnosed due to asymptomatic cases or non-specific symptoms. Case Presentation: A 65-year-old male with a history of left nephroadrenalectomy due to clear renal-cell carcinoma and paraaortic lymphadenectomy (staging pT3bN0M0V1R0) presented for a routine contrast-enhanced abdominal computer tomography examination. The scan showed several hypervascular structures that accumulate contrast in the arterial phase in the right liver lobe. Three years later, the patient developed complaints of abdominal pain and night sweats. Multiple MRI and CT examinations were performed, followed by a CEUS and a liver-core biopsy, which supported the diagnosis of hepatic lymphangioma. Conclusions: CEUS may be a more valuable evaluation method for follow-up examination than repeating CT and MRI scans. The real-time diagnostic possibility and tissue-perfusion data provide more profound information about the lesion of interest. Thus, it can be used as a primary diagnostic tool when a biopsy is performed. Although this method is relatively new, it can be applied in clinical settings with great value, and it saves time and resources.

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** PECAM1 (platelet and endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1) [NCBI Gene 5175] {aka CD31, CD31/EndoCAM, GPIIA', PECA1, PECAM-1, endoCAM}, KRT7 (keratin 7) [NCBI Gene 3855] {aka CK7, K2C7, K7, SCL}, CD34 (CD34 molecule) [NCBI Gene 947], TENM1 (teneurin transmembrane protein 1) [NCBI Gene 10178] {aka ODZ1, ODZ3, TEN-M1, TEN1, TNM, TNM1}, MME (membrane metalloendopeptidase) [NCBI Gene 4311] {aka CALLA, CD10, CMT2T, NEP, SCA43, SFE}, PROX1 (prospero homeobox 1) [NCBI Gene 5629], PAX8 (paired box 8) [NCBI Gene 7849] {aka PAX-8}, CMPK1 (cytidine/uridine monophosphate kinase 1) [NCBI Gene 51727] {aka CK, CMK, CMPK, UMK, UMP-CMPK, UMPK}, LYVE1 (lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1) [NCBI Gene 10894] {aka CRSBP-1, HAR, LYVE-1, XLKD1}
- **Diseases:** lymphatic malformation (MESH:D008209), polyp of the intestine (MESH:D007417), calcifications (MESH:D002114), malignancy (MESH:D009369), Cystic (MESH:D018297), abdominal pain (MESH:D015746), Hepatocellular adenoma (MESH:D018248), Benign liver lesions (MESH:D008107), inflammatory (MESH:D007249), injury to (MESH:D014947), Cystic lymphangiomas (MESH:D018191), pain (MESH:D010146), lymphangiosarcoma (MESH:D008204), renal morbidities (MESH:D006030), lymphatic-system tumors (MESH:D018190), vomiting (MESH:D014839), bleeding (MESH:D006470), Hypervascular lesions (MESH:D009059), nausea (MESH:D009325), Lymphadenopathy (MESH:D008206), adenoma:"pseudo (MESH:D000236), Hepatic lymphangiomas (MESH:D008202), infection (MESH:D007239), metastases (MESH:D009362), Hemangioma (MESH:D006391), HCC (MESH:D006528), lymphangiomatosis (MESH:C537727), biliary cystadenoma (MESH:D003537), FNH (MESH:D020518), Cysts (MESH:D003560), clear renal-cell carcinoma (MESH:D002292), Intra-abdominal lymphangiomas (MESH:C535553), impaired renal function (MESH:D007674), Liver Lymphangioma (MESH:D017093), intestinal obstruction (MESH:D007415), biliary cystadenocarcinoma (MESH:D003536)
- **Chemicals:** Bupivacaine (MESH:D002045)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

5 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12922081/full.md

## References

24 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12922081/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12922081