Phantom (invisible) organ sign

Mohd Ilyas, Tariq A. Gojwari, Musaib

Ahmad Dar, Akshit Kumar & Savia
Gupta

Abdominal Radiology

ISSN 2366-004X
Volume 44
Number 8

Abdom Radiol (2019) 44:2939-2940

DOI 10.1007/s00261-019-02035-x

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 Author's personal copy
Abdominal Radiology (2019) 44:2939–2940
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-019-02035-x

CLASSICS IN ABDOMINAL RADIOLOGY

Phantom (invisible) organ sign

Mohd Ilyas1   · Tariq A. Gojwari1 · Musaib Ahmad Dar1 · Akshit Kumar1 · Savia Gupta1

Published online: 25 April 2019

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019

The “phantom organ sign” refers to the obscuration of a

small organ when a large mass arising from it renders the
organ invisible (Figs. 1 and 2). The sign can be seen, for
example, in lesions arising from the adrenal gland: pheo-
chromocytoma, large adenoma, and adrenocortical carci-
noma [1].
A false-positive phantom organ sign can occur, how-
ever, when a large retroperitoneal mass so markedly dis-
places/compresses a smaller organ like the adrenal gland,
or invades it, as could be seen with retroperitoneal sarco-
mas. Nevertheless, the phantom organ sign can be a useful
tool in the identification of the organ of origin for a mass
(Fig. 1) [1, 2].

Fig. 1  Axial CT image showing a large right primary adrenal mass

histologically proven adrenal adenoma (green asterisk) obscuring any
normal adrenal tissue: the phantom organ sign. On the left side, an
extra-adrenal mass—a retroperitoneal liposarcoma (red asterisk)—
displaces the left adrenal gland

* Mohd Ilyas
ilyasmir40@gmail.com
1
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute
of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir 190011,
India

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2940 Abdominal Radiology (2019) 44:2939–2940

Funding  There is no funding source

Compliance with ethical standards 

Conflict of interest  All authors declare that there is no conflict of in-

terest.

Ethical approval  All procedures performed in studies involving human

participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the insti-
tutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki
Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent  Informed consent was obtained from all individual

participants included in the study.

References
1. Shabaan AM, Rezvani M, Tubay M, Elsayes KM, Woodward PJ,
Menias CO (2016) Fat-containing retroperitoneal lesions: imag-
ing characteristics, localization, and differential diagnosis. Radio-
graphics, 36(3);710-734
2. Nishino M, Hayakawa K, Minami M, Yamamoto A, Ueda H,
Takasu K (2003) Primary retroperitoneal neoplasms: CT and MR
imaging findings with anatomic and pathologic diagnostic clues.
Radiographics, 23(1);45-57

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to

jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Fig. 2  One of literature’s most famous invisible phantoms. First edi-

tions cover of “The Invisible Man” by H. G. Wells (London: Pear-
son, 1897). Open access image: https​://commo​ns.wikim​edia.org/wiki/
File:Wells​_-_The_Invis​ible_Man_-_Pears​on_cover​_1897.jpg

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