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Discrimination of well-differentiated liposarcoma from benign lipoma on sonography: an uncontrolled retrospective study

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Abstract

Purpose

Well-differentiated liposarcoma, the most common subtype of liposarcoma, should be discriminated from benign lipoma. However, features on sonography for discriminating these two types of tumor have not been fully investigated. The present study was therefore aimed at clarifying differences in sonographic findings between well-differentiated liposarcoma and lipoma.

Methods

The study population comprised 23 cases of well-differentiated liposarcoma and 181 cases of lipoma. We investigated differences in sonographic appearance and pathological findings between the two types of tumor.

Results

Well-differentiated liposarcoma tended to develop more frequently in older patients and in the lower extremities including the gluteal region, compared with lipoma. Concerning sonographic findings, both tumors exhibited well-defined margins and heterogeneous internal echogenicity, including typical tiny striated hyperechoic lines. Well-differentiated liposarcoma was characterized by a higher frequency of the following findings compared with lipoma: (1) deep location, (2) irregular shape, (3) large diameter, (4) hyperechogenicity compared to surrounding tissue, and (5) presence of vascularity on Doppler sonography (p < 0.01 each). Notably, hyperechogenicity corresponded to the intermingled sclerosing component within the adipocytic component when sonographic findings were compared with those of pathology.

Conclusion

The present study suggests that several sonographic findings including hyperechogenicity and presence of vascularity might be key features for discriminating well-differentiated liposarcoma from lipoma.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a research fund from the Kyorin University Faculty of Health Sciences (Grant Number: R401010001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Kyorin University Hospital, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Naoko Shimamori, Tomonori Kishino, Satoko Yamasaki, Kouki Ohtsuka, Hiroaki Ohnishi & Takashi Watanabe

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomonori Kishino, Satsuki Matsushima, Satoko Yamasaki, Kouki Ohtsuka, Hiroaki Ohnishi & Takashi Watanabe

  3. Department of Clinical Engineering, Kyorin University Faculty of Health Sciences, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomonori Kishino

  4. Department of Pathology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Naota Okabe & Junji Shibahara

  5. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Takeshi Morii

Authors
  1. Naoko Shimamori
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  2. Tomonori Kishino
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  3. Naota Okabe
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  4. Takeshi Morii
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  5. Satsuki Matsushima
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  7. Kouki Ohtsuka
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  8. Junji Shibahara
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  9. Hiroaki Ohnishi
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  10. Takashi Watanabe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomonori Kishino.

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Conflict of interest

Naoko Shimamori, Tomonori Kishino, Naota Okabe, Takeshi Morii, Satsuki Matsushima, Satoko Yamasaki, Kouki Ohtsuka, Junji Shibahara, Hiroaki Ohnishi, and Takashi Watanabe declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical statements

This was an uncontrolled retrospective study dealing with data from medical records. All study protocols were approved by the ethics committee at our institute (approval number: 780).

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Shimamori, N., Kishino, T., Okabe, N. et al. Discrimination of well-differentiated liposarcoma from benign lipoma on sonography: an uncontrolled retrospective study. J Med Ultrasonics 47, 617–623 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-020-01051-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-020-01051-5

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