Cystic Disease of the Liver

Abstract

Cystic lesions of the liver in the adult can be classified as developmental, neoplastic, inflammatory, or miscellaneous. They occur in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients with or without preexisting liver disease. Many of the lesions represent a diagnostic dilemma for the clinician and usually a single imaging study is not diagnostic. The physician must understand the clinical, radiologic, and pathologic characteristics of these cystic lesions including benign lesion such as simple (bile duct) cyst, autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease, biliary hamartoma, Caroli disease, congenital hepatic fibrosis, and premalignant lesion such as biliary cystadenoma and cystadenocarcinoma. In this review, we review the clinical, radiological, and histologic features of the most common benign cystic liver disease and also present current management options. An understanding of these facts will allow more definitive diagnosis and shorten the diagnostic workup for focal cystic liver lesions. (Korean J Med 2013;84:341-345)