[Hemangiomas of the liver]

Hepatic tumors are mostly due to metastasizing malignant lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. Benign neoplasms of the liver occur rarely. The most common benign tumor is the hemangioma, the etiology of which is still poorly understood. Small hemangiomas are usually asymptomatic and found incidentally at operation or post mortem examination. The treatment of large localized hemangiomas is surgical resection. When this is not performable, we have recourse to local excision of the tumor with ligation of the adjacent blood vessels. Actinotherapy is an alternative method used in treatment of multiple non localized hemangiomas. Biopsy of hemangioma is a hazardous procedure, which may trigger off massive hemorrhage. The paper presents 4 of the 92 patients subjected to liver resection during 1975 and 1980.