Aims and objectives
Hepatic hemangioma is one of the most common benign lesions of the liver,
detected in 0.4–20% of cases in autopsy series [1,2].
It is usually asymptomatic and incidentally found in imaging studies performed for other causes,
and there has been no report of malignant transformation.
The natural history of hepatic hemangioma was recently reported considering the surgical management depending on the speed of tumor growth [3,4].
The studies found that nearly half of the hemangiomas increased in size by up to 2 mm/year during a...
Methods and materials
Patients:
From January 2006 to December 2010,
a total of 1115 consecutive patients were recognized to have suggestive features of hepatic hemangiomas on contrast-enhanced CT or MRI at our institution.
Among those patients,
only 101 patients (55 males and 46 females,
mean age 51.9 years) were finally included in the study according to the following criteria (Figure 1); 1) having one or more follow-up CT or MRI with an interval of >5 years,
2) at least one session of dynamic CT or MRI available for...
Results
For the 101 lesions,
the follow-up period ranged from 60 to 157 months (median,
81 months).
During the follow-up,
32 lesions (31.6%) and 21 lesions (20.8%) were enlarged and shrunken to >20% of the initial diameter,
respectively,
whereas 48 lesions (47.5%) showed no remarkable size change from 80% to 120% of the diameter (Table 1).
Only one patient (1%,
1 of 101) showed a remarkable (>20%) fluctuation in lesion size during the follow-up period (decrease in size from 1.7 to 1 cm during the first...
Conclusion
This study is one of the largest studies with a long-term follow-up of hepatic hemangiomas.
In the statistical analysis of several possible factors responsible for the size change of hepatic hemangiomas,
only the patients’ age and underlying liver cirrhosis showed statistical significance in univariable and multivariable analyses.
Although the aging process affected the shrinkage of hepatic hemangiomas,
there were some exceptional cases of elderly patients who showed enlargement of hepatic hemangiomas without any presumable factors.
With regard to background liver changes,
Dodd et al reported...
Personal information
J.
CHOI,
MD
Department of Radiology,
Gangnam Severance Hospital,
Yonsei University College of Medicine,
211 Eonju-ro,
Gangnam-gu,
Seoul 06273,
South Korea
Tel: +82-2-2019-3510,
Fax: +82-2-3462-5472
E-mail:
[email protected]
References
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Karhunen PJ (1986) Benign hepatic tumours and tumour like conditions in men.
J Clin Pathol 39: 183-188
2.
Bioulac-Sage P,
Sempoux C,
Balabaud C (2008) Benign and malignant vascular tumors of the liver in adults.
Semin Liver Dis 28: 302-314
3.
Hasan HY,
Hinshaw JL,
Borman EJ,
Gegios A,
Leverson G,
Winslow ER (2014) Assessing normal growth of hepatic hemangiomas during long-term follow-up.
JAMA Surg 149:1266-1271
4.
Jing L,
Liang H,
Caifeng L,
Jianjun Y,
Feng X,
Mengchao W et al (2016) New recognition...