[A benign abdominal schwannoma presenting as postrenal failure--a case report]

Benign schwannomas are uncommon soft-tissue tumors in childhood. The occurrence of an abdominal schwannoma effecting an acute postrenal failure has not been reported thus far.

It is to describe the case of a 14-year-old male teenager who was admitted to our department because of inappetence and oedema in his face and on both feet. Further diagnostic investigations demonstrated a 24x20x15 cm abdominal tumor, which lead to an acute postrenal failure. The resection of the intraperitoneal tumor was performed completely, the histopathological examination revealed a benign schwannoma. Subsequently, the renal function had rapidly to normalised and ten years after the operation he has had no tumor recurrence.

Surgical excision in toto is the treatment of choice. The clinical presentation, differential diagnosis and operative strategy for benign and malignant abdominal schwannomas are discussed.