[Diagnosis of cystic lesions of the liver]

Many cystic lesions of the liver are found during ultrasonography of the abdomen. Most of these lesions are simple hepatic cysts that require no further investigation and no treatment. The diagnostic problem would be to fail to recognize a lesion that requires a specific treatment such as a cystadenoma or hydatid cyst, or a lesion that could modify the patient's treatment such as metastasis. In most cases, the sonographic pattern and the clinical context are sufficient to make a correct diagnosis. If the diagnosis remains doubtful, cytologic analysis and determination of tumor marker levels in the cystic fluid obtained by sonographic needle aspiration are often the key tests.