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Peliosis hepatis: a complicating finding in a case of biliary colic

Lars Grønlykke1, Britta Tarp, Stephen Hamilton Dutoit

  • 1Diagnostic Centre, Regionshospitalet Silkeborg, Silkeborg, Denmark.

BMJ Case Reports
|September 28, 2013
PubMed

A 33-year-old woman was referred for an ultrasound of the abdomen because of biliary colic. The symptoms had started 2 months after giving birth to her first child. The ultrasound showed gallstones, but it also revealed multiple focal liver lesions that were initially thought to be malignant. The examination was supplemented with a CT scan, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and MRI. The lesions were suspected to be peliosis hepatis-a rare morphological entity characterised by multiple blood-filled cavities in the liver. Because of uncertainty as to the aetiology of the lesions demonstrated at CEUS and MRI, the diagnosis was definitively confirmed by large-size needle biopsies. Regular size biopsies were initially insufficient for diagnosis. The use of oral contraceptives for several years or the recent pregnancy may have been the cause of peliosis hepatis in this patient.

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