A SPACE-OCCUPYING LESION IN THE LIVER DUE TO CAPILLARIA INFECTION

A space-occupying lesion 3.5 by 2.0 cm in size caused by Capillaria in fection was revealed ultrasonographically in segment 6 (S6) of the liv er of a 32-year-old woman from Okinawa, Japan, who was hospitalized wi th a complaint of pain in the right upper quadrant. Laboratory examina tion showed leukocytosis of 10,400/mm(3) with 22% eosinophils and slig ht impairment of liver function. The tumor was removed surgically and found to be a necrotic granuloma with eosinophilic infiltration formed around a degenerated nematode. The causative agent was presumed to be Capillaria hepatica based on the morphology of the bacillary bands an d stichosome observed in the sectioned worm and in the fragments of wo rm recovered by dissecting the tumor tissue that was embedded in paraf fin.