Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2024; 30(13): 1926-1933
Published online Apr 7, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i13.1926
Hepatic perivascular epithelioid cell tumors: The importance of preoperative diagnosis
Shuai Yan, Jia-Jie Lu, Lin Chen, Wei-Hua Cai, Jin-Zhu Wu
Shuai Yan, Jia-Jie Lu, Wei-Hua Cai, Jin-Zhu Wu, Department of Medical School, Nantong University, Nantong 226300, Jiangsu Province, China
Shuai Yan, Jia-Jie Lu, Wei-Hua Cai, Jin-Zhu Wu, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong 226006, Jiangsu Province, China
Lin Chen, Nantong Institute of Liver Disease, Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong 226006, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Yan S and Lu JJ were responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Wu JZ and Cai WH reviewed the literature and contributed to drafting the manuscript; Chen L critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content. All the authors provided final approval for the version to be submitted for publication.
Supported by Nantong Municipal Health Commission, No. MSZ2022036.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jin-Zhu Wu, MD, Chief, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong University, No. 19 Qixiu Road, Chongchuan District, Nantong 226300, Jiangsu Province, China. wjz1258@163.com
Received: January 22, 2024
Peer-review started: January 22, 2024
First decision: January 31, 2024
Revised: March 17, 2024
Accepted: March 19, 2024
Article in press: March 19, 2024
Published online: April 7, 2024
Processing time: 71 Days and 23.7 Hours
Abstract

Accurate preoperative diagnosis is highly important for the treatment of perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) because PEComas are mainly benign tumors and may not require surgical intervention. By analyzing the causes, properties and clinical manifestations of PEComas, we summarize the challenges and solutions in the diagnosis of PEComas.

Keywords: Hepatic perivascular epithelioid cell tumors; Liver; Preoperative diagnosis; Angiomyolipomas; Mesenchymal tissue-derived tumors

Core Tip: Hepatic perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are mesenchymal tumors composed of histologically and immunohistochemically unique perivascular epithelioid cells. They have nonspecific clinical manifestations, inconspicuous and variable imaging features and complex pathological phenotypes, which make preoperative diagnosis very difficult. By enumerating the practical problems faced by clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of PEComa patients, we analyzed the methods and ideas used to improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis of PEComas and provided new insights into the choice of conservative treatment and surgical treatment.