Intraabdominal Lymphatic Malformations: Pearls and Pitfalls of Diagnosis and Differential Diagnoses in Pediatric Patients

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this article is to review the practical imaging workup and characteristic imaging appearances of intraabdominal lymphatic malformations (LMs) in the pediatric population with a brief discussion of some common differential diagnoses found in a vascular anomaly clinic.

Conclusion: LMs are uncommon pediatric lesions. Because of their rarity among LMs overall, a tendency to present later in life than superficial LMs, and often incidental identification, intraabdominal LMs pose a particular diagnostic challenge, and pathologic entities that are more prevalent must be carefully excluded first. Although the diagnosis of most intraabdominal LMs can be reliably based on clear understanding of characteristic imaging findings, histologic correlation may be necessary in some cases.

Keywords: intraabdominal lymphatic malformation; lymphangioma; lymphatic malformation; vascular anomaly; visceral.