Ciliated hepatic foregut cyst: two further cases with an immunohistochemical analysis

The objective of the present study is to report two cases of a rare entity, which is being increasingly recognized in recent years. A 35-year-old woman and a 33-year old man were incidentally discovered to have bilocular cystic hepatic masses affecting segment IV. In both cases the cystic mass was excised and the histopathological analysis revealed an inner lining of the cyst wall with a pseudostratified epithelium showing prominent cilia. The cyst wall contained some muscular fibers but no cartilage or other tissue types and diagnosis was ciliated hepatic cyst. Both patients recovered uneventfully after surgery and are well and disease free. Ciliated hepatic cysts are rare cystic hepatic masses derived from remnants of the embryonal foregut that are embedded inside the hepatic bud during embryological development. Fewer than 100 cases of this tumor have been reported in the world literature, many of them in Japan, and most cases have behaved in a benign fashion, although there are at least three reported cases of malignancy within the cyst wall to a squamous cell carcinoma. We herein report two further cases of this entity, highlight the diagnostic usefulness of immunohistochemistry and comment on the possible therapeutic alternatives.