"Variable echo sign" (ultrasonographical alteration of echogenicity) in cavernous hepatic hemangioma

There are few reports describing cavernous hepatic hemangiomas with alteration of ultrasonographical imaging during examinations. We performed ultrasonographic examination of 64 cavernous hepatic hemangiomas and recognized 26 cases (41%) with an alteration of echogenicity during the examinations. We refer to this alteration of echogenicity of cavernous hepatic hemangioma as a "variable echo sign". We performed angiography of the cavernous hepatic hemangiomas with variable echo sign. Most of these imaging patterns showed mild or moderate pooling, suggesting that the alteration of echogenicity might be based on a slow blood flow exchange. We suggest that a variable echo sign is specific to ultrasonographic imaging with cavernous hepatic hemangioma and may be useful to differentiate cavernous hepatic hemangioma from other tumors.