Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the liver: report of two cases

This report describes two patients with hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma: a 33-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man. The first case presented with a palpable abdominal mass and has survived without treatment for 6 years since diagnosis, with ascites but a good general condition. The other patient presented with abdominal pain and cholestasis. He had a rapid course and death occurred 6 months after the onset of symptoms. Histologically the tumors consisted of a proliferation of neoplastic cells with an angiogenic tendency embedded in a myxohyaline stroma. Positivity for the factor VIII-related antigen, for UEA-I and for vimentin and negativity for keratin of the neoplastic cells in the immunohistochemical investigation permitted identification of their endothelial origin. In both cases, the initial diagnosis was erroneous.