Inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver presenting as incidentaloma: report of a case and review of the literature.

Inflammatory pseudotumors of the liver represent a rare entity in the world literature, only 53 cases have been reported previously. Patients present with fever, upper abdominal pain, and weight loss. The finding is usually mistaken as a malignant lesion. Therefore most of the reported patients (77.4%, n = 41) underwent surgical therapy including major liver resections in 30 cases, wedge resections in 5 cases, and liver transplantation in 1 case. Only 12 patients (22.6%) were treated conservatively or were observed. We report the case of a 32-year-old woman with the incidental sonographic finding of a hepatic lesion. After contradictory findings in abdominal CT, MRT and hepatic scinti-scans, the diagnosis of an inflammatory pseudotumor could finally be confirmed by laparoscopic guided needle-biopsy. The clinical course of the patient was completely uneventful under observation. Clinopathological features, diagnostic findings, therapeutical options and outcome are discussed reviewing the cases reported in world literature.