[Surgery of benign liver tumors]

The most frequent benign liver tumors are hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and adenoma. It is essential for the diagnosis to differentiate these lesions from malignant tumors. While sonography, bolus-CT scan, chole-/bloodpool scintigraphy usually yield a safe diagnosis of hemangioma or FNH, adenomas do not show characteristic features. Operation is indicated for hemangioma of FNH only in case of tumor growth and/or symptoms. Operation for adenoma is as a rule indicated because of possible malignant transformation or uncertain differentiation from malignoma. Operative procedures include anatomical/atypical liver resection, ex situ resection or liver transplantation.