[A case of a retroperitoneal schwannoma presenting as hypermetabolic mass in PET-CT]

Schwannoma is a benign neoplasm of the Schwann cells of the neural sheath. Most schwannomas occur in the head and neck, and extremities and rarely in the retroperitoneal space. The differentiation of a schwannoma from other malignant tumor or benign tumor is very difficult on a preoperative examination with ultrasonography, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, the lesion with increased fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in PET-CT cannot exclude malignant tumor. Therefore, this lesion needs surgical excision and a histological examination with immunohistochemical staining. We report a case of schwannoma occuring in the retroperitoneal space that incidentally discovered by PET-CT for health-check up. Pathologic confirmation by laparoscopic excision was done.