APPLICATION OF A NEW IMAGING MODALITY, THREE DIMENSIONAL CT (3D-CT), TO A CASE OF ADRENAL PSEUDOCYST

Abstract

A 34-year-old female patient was seen at the hospital because of right flank pain, back pain, and anemia. Abdominal ultrasonography demonstrated a round 10×10cm cystic retroperitoneal mass just behind the right lobe of the liver, superior to the right kidney and to the right of the vena cava. Abdominal CT and MRI confirmed these findings. Cavogram revealed compression of vena cava by the tumor. Right renal angiogram revealed feeding arteries from the adrenal arteries to the tumor. Three dimentional CT image visualized the accurate anatomical relationship between the tumor and surrounding vascular structures. A preoperative diagnosis of adrenal pseudocyst was made, and the lesion was removed surgically on July 21, 1992. The three dimentional anatomical relationship between the tumor and surrounding vascular structure was the same as preoperative determination by 3D-volume CT. Histopathologically the tumor was adrenal pseudocyst. The patient was discharged in a good clinical condition on August 5, 1992. Three dimentional CT imaging was very useful to image anatomical relationship between the tumor and surrounding vascular structure preoperatively.