Benign Solid Liver Research Articles

Management Of Unexpected Solid Benign Liver Tumors During Laparoscopic Surgery: Concerns A Propos Of One Case

During the last two decades laparoscopic surgery became popular and has been used for the removal of several lesions and organs. Unexpected solid benign liver tumors are some of the incidental intraoperative findings which demand accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The most common benign liver tumors include cavernous hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia, hepatic adenoma and nodular regenerative hyperplasia. Some of these tumors can cause serious complications, such as hemorrhage or malignant transformation. Thus, incidental discovery of solid benign hepatic tumors may require additional therapeutic procedures. On occasion of a case, this article will focus on the diagnosis and management of these tumors.

Surgical management of benign solid and cystic liver lesions

The aim is to evaluate the indications for and results of surgery in patients with benign solid and cystic liver lesions. Resection is the best method of management of symptomatic benign solid liver lesions. For cystic lesions fenestration or resection have been the most-used treatments. Recently, laparoscopy has changed the way we treat these lesions. We reviewed the clinical files of all patients with benign solid and cystic liver lesions operated-upon between May 1995 and May 2003. There were 64 patients included in the present analysis (57 female; 7 male); median age was 48 years (range 21–74 years); 32 (50%) with benign solid liver lesions of which 22 were cavernous haemangiomas; 23 (35.9%) with non-parasitic liver disease (NPLD) and 9 (14%) had polycystic liver disease (PLD). There were 54 patients (84.3%) who had symptoms. Thirty-nine patients had liver resections performed (16 major and 23 minor), 15 patients were treated by open fenestration and 10 were treated by laparoscopic fenestration. There were 10 patients (15.6%) who presented complications; operative mortality was zero. The presence of symptoms is the most common indication for treatment. Laparoscopic fenestration has become the first-line treatment tor symptomatic NPLD and selected patients with benign solid liver lesions and PLD. However, in our centre, a considerable proportion of patients is still operated-upon via the open approach. A careful selection of cases is necessary to ensure good outcomes.

Prospective assessment of the safety and benefit of laparoscopic liver resections.

Laparoscopy represents an alternative to open surgery for virtually all digestive surgery procedures, with the anticipated short-term advantage of reduced esthetic prejudice, postoperative pain, and duration of in-hospital stay. In this study, we investigated the safety and benefits of laparoscopic liver resections in patients with benign solid liver tumors. Laparoscopic liver resection of up to two segments for benign liver tumor was performed under continuous carbon dioxide (CO(2)) pneumoperitoneum in 21 patients with no underlying chronic liver disease. The risk of gas embolism was assessed by end-tidal CO(2) and O(2) saturation, and the hemodynamic variations were monitored by a Swan-Ganz catheter. The postoperative course was compared with that following open surgery by matched-pair analysis. No patient experienced gas embolism or was converted, and clamping of the hepatic pedicle resulted in hemodynamic variations comparable to those observed during open surgery. Duration of surgery (177 vs 156 min.), intraoperative blood loss (218 vs 285 ml), modifications of postoperative liver function tests, and incidence of postoperative complications (10% vs 10%) were comparable to those after open surgery. Laparoscopic resection was associated with a 50% reduction (15.5 vs 31.6 mg) in morphine consumption during the first postoperative days, a reduction of the delay to oral intake of 0.8 days, and a reduction of in-hospital stay of 1.4 days. Liver resections of up to two segments can be performed by laparoscopy using the same technique as that used during open surgery. However, the benefits observed compared with open surgery appear to be limited.

Should benign tumors of the liver be operated?

To define a strategy for benign liver tumours treatment and to report our experience. A retrospective study. Sixty-eight patients operated for benign liver tumours among 424 operated of liver resection. Benign liver tumours were discovered during radiologic exploration for upper abdominal pain in 69%, incidentally during radiologic examination in 23% or at laparotomy in 8% of patients. Preoperative assessment of solid benign liver tumours was based on 4 radiologic examinations in average whereas cystic lesions needed only 2. The surgical treatment ranged from a simple tumorectomy to liver transplantation depending on the type, size and location of the tumour. There were no postoperative deaths and minor complications occurred in 7 patients (10%). Twenty hemangiomas, 20 hepatic cysts, 22 focal nodular hyperplasias (FNH), 4 hepatic adenomas (HA) and 2 cystadenomas were found on histology. The final diagnosis differed from the preoperative one in 36 patients (53%). Differential diagnosis for cystic lesions are the hepatic cyst, the hydatid cyst and the cystadenoma. Hydatid cysts and cystadenomas are resected whereas the asymptomatic hepatic cyst is left untreated. Hemangiomas must be resected only when symptomatic or pedunculated. The differentiation between FNH, HA and hepatocellular carcinoma is difficult and final diagnosis is most often achieved only by surgery.

Indications and long-term outcome of treatment for benign hepatic tumors: a critical appraisal.

The natural history and clinical behavior of benign hepatic tumors during long-term follow-up may not justify primary surgical treatment. Retrospective study. Tertiary referral center. Two hundred eight patients diagnosed as having a benign liver tumor between January 1, 1979, and December 31, 1999. Seventy-four patients underwent hepatic surgery and 134 were managed conservatively by radiological follow-up. Symptoms and complications were assessed during management and follow-up. In the surgically treated population, the liver lesion was symptomatic in 47 patients (64%) and an incidental finding in 27 (36%). The operative morbidity and mortality were 27% (20 of 74 patients) and 3% (2 of 74 patients), respectively. Overall, 28 (80%) of 35 patients with complaints were asymptomatic after surgery. During observation of the tumor in the conservatively managed group, 39 (87%) of 45 patients who presented with complaints were asymptomatic during a mean follow-up of 45 months; 6 patients had mild abdominal pain considered to be unrelated to the tumor. Conservative management of solid benign liver lesions such as focal nodular hyperplasia and hemangioma can be performed safely, irrespective of their size. We only advise surgery for liver lesions when there is an inability to exclude malignancy or in the case of severe complaints related to the tumor. Resection is always advocated in the case of a large hepatocellular adenoma (>5 cm) to reduce the risk of rupture and malignant degeneration.

Current status of diagnostic imaging of focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver

Ranging behind hemangiomas, focal nodular hyperplasias (FNH) are the second most common benign solid liver lesions. Women between the age of 20 and 50 years are predominantly affected. In rare cases FNH may occur in children. Etiologically, an arteriovenous vascular malformation of the liver is discussed, which causes pseudotumorous growth of the surrounding liver parenchyma. Morphological features such as the presence of a radial vascular architecture and feeding arteries within a central scar are characteristic for the presence of FNH. Imaging techniques which enable the depiction of the arterial blood supply with a characteristic centrifugal filling pattern, the contrast enhancement in the early arterial phase, the absence of calcifications and of a tumour capsule and the typical enhancement of the central scar, are of particular importance. Knowledge of these features is important in order to differentiate FNH from other hypervascular focal liver lesions with tendency of scar formation, such as hepatic adenomas, giant hemangiomas, hepatocellular and fibrolamellar carcinomas, and metastases. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of FNH will be enabled by a combined modality approach consisting of (Doppler) sonography and triphasic CT. To confirm the diagnosis of FNH, dynamic MRI is advisable. Because of the invasiveness of angiography as well as the limited sensitivity and spatial resolution of the various scintigraphic methods, these modalities no longer play a role in the diagnostic work-up of FNH. Lesions lacking typical features diagnostic for FNH remain subjects for biopsy and histological examination.