Sonographic Appearances of Liposarcoma: Correlations with Pathologic Subtypes

Abstract Liposarcoma is the second most common malignant soft-tissue tumor. This entity is pathologically categorized into 4 subtypes: well-differentiated, myxoid, dedifferentiated and pleomorphic. Although features on magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography for these 4 subtypes have been reported quite precisely, those on sonography have not been fully investigated. The present study was therefore aimed at clarifying the sonographic appearances of each liposarcoma subtype and assessing correlations with histopathology. The study population was made up of 35 cases, including 21 cases of well-differentiated liposarcoma, 6 cases of myxoid liposarcoma, 6 cases of dedifferentiated liposarcoma and 2 cases of pleomorphic liposarcoma. Compared with the other subtypes, well-differentiated liposarcoma was characterized by the high frequency of the following findings: isoechogenicity, tiny hyperechoic lines and hypovascularity ( p p p p