Abstract
Lipoblastoma is a rare and benign tumour arising from embryonal fat cells, predominantly diagnosed in children younger than 3 years old. The most frequent locations are the extremities and trunk, while the head and neck areas are more rarely affected (10–15% of total cases). Clinically, the most common presentation is a fast-growing painless mass. Ultrasound is the first-line imaging examination, but Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows for better definition of the relationships with the adjacent vascular and muscular structures. It can help to identify the lipomatous components, and it is useful for preoperative planning. However, the definitive diagnosis is provided by histopathological examination. Complete surgical excision is the first-line treatment, with a good prognosis in case of total eradication. We report the case of a 7-month-old male child with a rapidly growing mass that had typical radiological features of lipoblastoma.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brodsky JR, Kim DY, Jiang Z (2007) Cervical lipoblastoma: case report, review of literature, and genetic analysis. Head Neck 29:1055–1060
Gupta P, Potti TA, Wuertzer SD, Lenchik L, Pacholke DA (2016) Spectrum of fat-containing soft-tissue masses at MR imaging: the common, the uncommon, the characteristic, and the sometimes confusing. Radiographics 36:753–766
Pham NS, Poirier B, Fuller SC, Dublin AB, Tollefson TT (2011) Pediatric lipoblastoma in the head and neck: a systematic review of 48 reported cases. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 74:723–728
Bruyeer E, Lemmerling M, Poorten VV, Sciot R, Hermans R (2012) Paediatric lipoblastoma in the head and neck: three cases and review of literature. Cancer Imaging 12:484–487
Murphey MD, Carroll JF, Flemming DJ, Pope TL, Gannon FH, Kransdorf MJ (2004) From the archives of the AFIP. Radiographics 24:1433–1466
Miller GG, Yanchar NL, Magee JF, Blair GK (1997) Tumor karyotype differentiates lipoblastoma from liposarcoma. J Pediatr Surg 32:1771–1772
Vellios F, Baez J, Shumacker HB (1958) Lipoblastomatosis: a tumor of fetal fat different from hibernoma. Am J Pathol 34:1149–1159
Chung EB, Enzinger FM (1973) Benign lipoblastomatosis. An analysis of 35 cases. Cancer 32:482–492
Changazi SH, Ghuman GM, Bashir A, Bhatti S, Iqbal M, Ismat U (2018) A case report of lipoblastoma: presenting as a swelling in the nape of the neck of 14 years old girl. Int J Surg Case Rep 53:50–53
El Amine O, Belghith M, Salhi H, Goucha A, Gamoudi A (2018) Submandibular lipoblastoma: case report of a rare tumor in childhood. Avicenna J Med 8:55–57
Jandali D, Heilingoetter A, Ghai R, Jeffe J, Al-Khudari S (2018) Large parotid gland lipoblastoma in a teenager. Front Pediatr 6:50
Ghribi A, Gasmi M, Hamzaoui M (2016) A rare tumor of the neck in a child. Ann Fr Otorhinolaryngol Pathol Cervicofac 133:59–60
Torre M, Borel C, Saitua F, Ossandon F, Latorre JJ, Varela P (2010) Lipoblastoma with unique localization requiring tracheal and esophageal resection. J Pediatr Surg 45:e21–e23
Deen M, Ebrahim S, Schloff D, Mohamed AN (2013) A novel PLAG1-RAD51L1 gene fusion resulting from a t(8;14)(q12;q24) in a case of lipoblastoma. Cancer Genet 206:233–237
Dizdar D, Dizdar SK, Çalis AB, Coskun BU (2015) A rare cause of Horner syndrome: pediatric lipoblastoma of the neck. J Craniofac Surg 26:965–966
Sheckter CC, Francis CS, Block V, Lypka M, Rizvi M, Urata MM (2012) Multifocal lipoblastoma of the face. J Craniofac Surg 23:e585–e587
Jaafar R, Tang IP, Jong DE, Narihan MZ (2015) Cervical lipoblastoma: an uncommon presentation. Ear Nose Throat J 94:E8–E10
Kok KY, Telisinghe PU (2010) Lipoblastoma: clinical features, treatment, and outcome. World J Surg 34:1517–1522
Lim R, Flatman S, Sigston E, Longano A (2013) Lipoblastoma: an interesting differential of paediatric lipoma. ANZ J Surg 84:387–388
Choi HJ, Lee YM, Lee JH, Kim JW, Tark MS (2013) Pediatric lipoblastoma of the neck. J Craniofac Surg 24:e507–e510
Susam-Sen H, Yalcin B, Kutluk T et al (2017) Lipoblastoma in children: review of 12 cases. Pediatr Int 59:545–550
Rasmussen LS, Kirkegaard J, Kaasbøl M (1997) Intermittent airway obstruction in a child caused by a cervical lipoblastoma. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 41:945–946
Sakaida M, Shimizu T, Kishioka C, Majima Y (2004) Lipoblastoma of the neck: a case report and literature review. Am J Otolaryngol 25:266–269
Basaran UN, Inan M, Bilgi S, Pul M (2001) Lipoblastoma: a rare cervical mass in childhood. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 61:265–268
Camilleri AC, Smith WP, Kaiser L (2004) Infantile cervical lipoblastoma: a case report and review of the literature. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 62:383–386
Lorenzen JC, Godballe C, Kerndrup GB (2005) Lipoblastoma of the neck: a rare cause of respiratory problems in children. Auris Nasus Larynx 32:169–173
Rosen A, Jedynak AR, Respler D (2005) Lipoblastoma of the neck mimicking cystic hygroma. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 132:511–513
Ardeshirpour F, Shockley WW, Zdanski CJ (2010) Lipoblastoma in the masticator space of an infant. Eur J Pediatr Surg 20:201–203
Ambrosio A, Hawley D, Klugh A, Bogni F, Nelson B, Brigger M (2014) Pediatric neck mass. Right deep cervical lipoblastoma. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 140:273–274
Singh V, Raju R, Singh M, Singh TH (2004) Congenital lipoblastoma of the scalp. Am J Perinatol 21:377–381
Hong R, Choi DY, Do NY, Lim SC (2008) Fine-needle aspiration cytology of a lipoblastoma: a case report. Diagn Cytopathol 36:508–511
Shah AR, Wei JL, Maddalozzo J (2004) Cervical lipoblastoma: an uncommon diagnosis of neck mass. Otolaryngol Neck Surg 130:504–507
Do NY, Cho SI, Park JH, Choi JY (2008) Lipoblastoma arising from the submandibular region. J Pediatr Surg 43:e13–e15
Chun YS, Kim WK, Park KW, Lee SC, Jung SE (2001) Lipoblastoma. J Pediatr Surg 36:905–907
Kaneyama K, Yamataka A, Okazaki T, Lane GJ, Miyano T (2006) Magnetic resonance imaging in lipoblastoma: can it be a diagnostic modality? Asian J Surg 29:198–201
Warren M, Turpin BK, Mark M, Smolarek TA, Li X (2016) Undifferentiated myxoid lipoblastoma with PLAG1-HAS2 fusion in an infant; morphologically mimicking primitive myxoid mesenchymal tumor of infancy (PMMTI)-diagnostic importance of cytogenetic and molecular testing and literature review. Cancer Genet 209:21–29
McVay MR, Keller JE, Wagner CW, Jackson RJ, Smith SD (2006) Surgical management of lipoblastoma. J Pediatr Surg 41:1067–1071
Stárek I, Mihál V, Novák Z, Pospísilová D, Vomácka J, Vokurka J (2004) Pediatric tumors of the parapharyngeal space. Three case reports and a literature review. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 68:601–606
Chen CW, Chang WC, Lee HS, Ko KH, Chang CC, Huang GS (2010) MRI features of lipoblastoma: differentiating from other palpable lipomatous tumor in pediatric patients. Clin Imaging 34:453–457
Gardikis S, Kambouri K, Tsalkidis A, Chatzimicael A, Vaos G (2009) Lipoblastoma on the posterior side of the neck. Turk J Pediatr 51:287–289
Ratan S, Gambhir A, Mullick S, Ratan J (2000) Lipoblastoma of the neck. Indian J Pediatr 67:301–303
Premkumar K, Basle MA, Jassim K, Waseem Ahamed TP (2015) An unusual case of cervical lipoblastoma with review of literature. J Cancer Res Ther 11:1025
Dogan R, Kara M, Firat P, Gedikoglu G (2007) An unusual tumor of the neck and mediastinum: lipoblastomatosis resulting in paraparesis. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 31:325–327
Sun JJ, Rasgon BM, Hilsinger RL (2003) Lipoblastomatosis of the neck causing hemiparesis: a case report and review of the literature. Head Neck 25:337–340
Solem BS, Eide TJ, Elverland HH, Mair IW (1981) Benign lipoblastomatosis: a cervical tumor of children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 3:163–169
Collins M, Chatten J (1997) Lipoblastoma/lipoblastomatosis: a clinicopathologic study of 25 tumors. Am J Surg Pathol 21:1131–1137
Shek K, Cheng S, Tse K, Lai K, Chan M (2015) Lipoblastoma: different features on magnetic resonance imaging. Hong Kong J Radiol 18:302–306
Catalano O, Varelli C, Sbordone C, Corvino A et al (2019) A bump: what to do next? Ultrasound imaging of superficial soft-tissue palpable lesions. J Ultrasound Mar 29
Sidhu PS, Cantisani V, Dietrich CF et al (2018) The EFSUMB guidelines and recommendations for the clinical practice of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in non-hepatic applications: update 2017 (long version). Ultraschall Med 39(2):e2–e44
Corvino A, Sandomenico F, Setola SV et al (2019) Morphological and dynamic evaluation of complex cystic focal liver lesions by contrast-enhanced ultrasound: current state of the art. J Ultrasound 22:251–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00385-2
Corvino A, Sandomenico F, Corvino F et al (2019) Utility of gel stand-off pad in the detection of Doppler signal on focal nodular lesions of the skin. J Ultrasound 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00376-3
Corvino A, Catalano O, Setola SV et al (2015) Contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the characterization of complex cystic focal liver lesions. Ultrasound Med Biol 41(5):1301–1310
Corvino A, Catalano O, Corvino F et al (2017) Diagnostic performance and confidence of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of cystic and cystic like liver lesions. AJR Am J Roentgenol 209(3):W119–w127
Ascenti G, Mazziotti S, Zimbaro G et al (2007) Complex cystic renal masses: characterization with contrast-enhanced US. Radiology 243:158–165
Walaas L, Kindblom LG (1985) Lipomatous tumors: a correlative cytologic and histologic study of 27 tumors examined by fine needle aspiration cytology. Hum Pathol 16:6–18
Moholkar S, Sebire NJ, Roebuck DJ (2006) Radiological–pathological correlation in lipoblastoma and lipoblastomatosis. Pediatr Radiol 36:851–856
Romeih M, Raafat T, Khalaf M, Sallam K (2018) The diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in characterization of musculoskeletal soft tissue tumors. Egypt J Radiol Nucl Med 49:400–407
Neubauer H, Evangelista L, Hassold N et al (2012) Diffusion-weighted MRI for detection and differentiation of musculoskeletal tumorous and tumor-like lesions in pediatric patients. World J Pediatr 8:342–349
van Rijswijk CS, Kunz P, Hogendoorn PC, Taminiau AH, Doornbos J, Bloem JL (2002) Diffusion-weighted MRI in the characterization of soft-tissue tumors. J Magn Reson Imaging 15:302–307
Nagata S, Nishimura H, Uchida M et al (2008) Diffusion-weighted imaging of soft tissue tumors: usefulness of the apparent diffusion coefficient for differential diagnosis. Radiat Med 26:287–295
Incedayi M, Sağlam M, Sonmez G, Sivrioğlu AK, Tekin L (2012) Using diffusion weighted MR imaging in a lipomatous chest wall lesion. JBR-BTR 95:306–308
Jung SM, Chang PY, Luo CC, Huang CS, Lai JY, Hsueh C (2005) Lipoblastoma/lipoblastomatosis: a clinicopathologic study of 16 cases in Taiwan. Pediatr Surg Int 21:809–812
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Human and animal rights
This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lomoro, P., Simonetti, I., Nanni, A.L. et al. Imaging of head and neck lipoblastoma: case report and systematic review. J Ultrasound 24, 231–239 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00439-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00439-w