Hepatic tumors and oral contraceptives: surgical management

The clinical and pathological features of 14 patients with benign liver tumors are reviewed. There were two males and 12 females in this series of cases. All but one of the females had been on contraceptive steroid therapy for an average of 7.8 years. Abdominal pain was the presenting complaint in 75% of cases, a palpable abdominal mass was present in 22%, while 12.5% of the patients presented with acute hemorrhagic shock due to rupture of a liver cell adenoma. Liver cell adenomas (LCA) were found in 87.5% of the cases and a diagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNA) was made at histologic examination of the resected tumors in 12.5% of cases. Surgical resection of the liver tumors was performed successfully in 89% of the cases. Hepatic lobectomy was accomplished in four patients, hepatic segmentectomy was possible in three cases, while local wedge resection or focal excision were indicated on seven occasions. There was no operative mortality in this series, but one patient required reoperation for drainage of a complicating subphrenic abscess.