Surgical approach to symptomatic giant cavernous hemangioma of the liver

Surgical treatment of giant cavernous hemangioma of the liver is still controversial. In this study, indications and results of surgical therapy were evaluated.

Fifteen patients with symptomatic giant cavernous hemangioma of the liver were treated by enucleation or liver resection.

The surgical indications were abdominal pain in 11 patients, uncertain diagnosis in 3 patients and tumor enlargement in one patient. The median tumor size was 12.5cm (range, 6-30cm). Eleven patients underwent enucleation procedure while the other 4 patients underwent resection procedures. Complications occurred in 2 (13.4%) patients. The patient with the largest tumor underwent right extended lobectomy and died of bleeding and coagulopathy (6.7%). The postoperative hospital stay was 7 days (range, 4-16 days). Thirteen patients were followed-up for an average period of 32.8 months (range, 6-88 months). It was found that the symptoms for 12 of 13 patients disappeared. During the postoperative controls carried out by imaging procedures, no recurrences were observed.

Abdominal pain, uncertain diagnosis and enlargement are major surgical indications of symptomatic giant cavernous hemangiomas. Most of the symptoms disappear after the surgical treatment. Enucleation can be successively performed with low morbidity rates in most of the patients and recurrences are rare. If the tumor location precludes safe enucleation, anatomic resections are preferred.