Lipoblastoma presenting as a mesenteric mass in an infant

PURPOSE: This article describes an infant with a large abdominal mass and hypertension. PATIENT AND METHODS: A 5-month-old infant girl with diarrhea of 1 week's duration and a large right-sided abdominal mass was brought for treatment. Computed tomography of the abdomen revealed a large, generally homogeneous, hypodense mass, which compressed the right kidney, resulting in dilatation of the right renal collecting system. At surgery, the mass was adherent anteriorly to the transverse colon and attached by a stalk to the mesentery near the origin of the right colic artery. RESULTS: Examination of the mass showed an encapsulated lipoblastoma. Cytogenetic analysis revealed a 46,XX karyotype with a reciprocal translocation between chromosome 2 and chromosome 8 with breakpoints at q23 and q11.2, respectively. CONCLUSION: Lipoblastoma is a rapidly growing but benign tumor, which can cause severe medical problems by compressing major organs. Cytogenetic analysis can reveal translocations involving chromosome 8 band q11.2, which appears to be a specific chromosome marker for lipoblastoma.