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Liver cysts occur in about 20% of the population. Patients often have several liver cysts scattered on both sides of the liver. Most liver cysts are small, asymptomatic, and non-cancerous. Thus, most liver cysts can be ignored.
However, a small percentage of liver cysts are concerning and need some type of therapy.
Reasons to treat liver cysts include:
Hemangiomas are abnormal collections of blood vessels that can occur anywhere in the body. They are common in the liver. Up to 20% of the population will have at least one hemangioma in the liver. Hemangiomas occur slightly more commonly in women compared to men.
Liver hemangiomas are benign and never turn into cancer.
Very rarely, hemangiomas can be associated with life-threatening blood disorders, may spontaneously bleed, or clot off resulting in acute pain.
Based on size and location, a small percentage of liver hemangiomas can cause chronic symptoms necessitating surgery. These symptoms include:
Asymptomatic hemangiomas do not require treatment.
Liver resection is the treatment of choice for symptomatic hemangiomas. Most of these resections can be performed laparoscopically.
Rarely, radiologic procedures aimed at cutting off arterial blood supply can be used treat liver hemangiomas in patients unable to tolerate surgery.
A focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is a liver mass comprising normal liver cells arranged abnormally because of abnormal arterial blood supply. FNHs occur much more commonly in women compared to men.
FNHs are benign and never turn into cancer. Very rarely, FNHs may twist resulting in acute pain or spontaneously bleed.
Based on size and location, a small percentage of FNHs can cause chronic symptoms necessitating surgery.
These symptoms include:
Asymptomatic FNHs do not require treatment.
Liver resection is the treatment of choice for FNHs. Most of these resections can be performed laparoscopically.
Rarely, radiologic procedures aimed at cutting off arterial blood supply can be used treat liver FNHs in patients unable to tolerate surgery.
Liver adenomas are benign tumors that occur more commonly in women than in men. Oral contraceptives, other female hormone supplements, and male hormone supplements are risk factors for the presence and growth of liver adenomas. While most liver adenomas have a benign course, some adenomas are at risk for bleeding or cancer transformation.
Recently, different categories of adenomas have been discovered:
Fortunately, the adenoma type can often be diagnosed with an MRI scan so that a liver biopsy is not needed in most cases.
Appropriate management of liver adenomas is complex and should be done by a liver specialist.