Paraneoplastic hypoglycemia associated with a hepatic hemangiopericytoma.

Hepatic hemangiopericytomas are rare vascular tumors that may be associated with profound hypoglycemia. Although this tumor is more likely to arise in the lower extremities, pelvis, or retroperitoneum, it may very rarely arise in the liver. Unlike other vascular liver tumors, hemangiopericytomas are frequently large at the time of appearance and may have characteristic imaging features. We present the correlative imaging findings in a patient who had a large symptomatic hepatic hemangiopericytoma that produced intractable and ultimately terminal hypoglycemia. Although hemangiopericytomas seldom occur in the liver, the associated hypoglycemia that is known to occur may suggest the diagnosis and may help in differentiating the mass from other large vascular tumors of the liver.