Inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver

Since the first report of inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver in 1953, 12 cases have been reported in the literature. The authors report herein five cases of inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver in our hospital. These tumors were resected and the diagnosis confirmed pathologically. Three of the patients were male and two female. Four of these patients had been misdiagnosed as having primary liver cancer by sonography and CT scan. Our experience has shown that if the patient had a long clinical course, few clinical symptoms, good general condition, and a negative alpha-fetoprotein assay, if the tumor was well encapsulated and the liver presented without cirrhosis, the patients should be suspected of having inflammatory pseudotumor of liver. In this series, all five patients underwent hepatectomy. There were no complications after operation. Surgical resection should be considered as the main therapeutic method for inflammatory pseudotumor of liver. If the patient proves unsuitable for surgical treatment, steroid therapy should be the treatment of choice. In this paper 12 cases of inflammatory pseudotumor of liver reported in the literature are reviewed and discussed.