Liver tumor

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver (medical terms pertaining to the liver often start in hepato- or hepatic from the Greek word for liver, hepar). These growths can be benign or malignant (cancerous). They may be discovered on medical imaging (even for a different reason than the cancer itself), or may be present in patients as an abdominal mass, hepatomegaly, abdominal pain, jaundice, or some other liver dysfunction.

Classification

There are many types of liver tumors:

Malignant

• Malignant (cancerous):
  • Most cases are metastases from other tumors, frequently of the GI tract (like colon cancer, carcinoid tumors mainly of the appendix, etc.), but also from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer, etc.
  • The most frequent, malignant, primary liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (also named hepatoma, which is a misnomer because adenomas are usually benign).
  • More rare primary forms of liver cancer include cholangiocarcinoma, mixed tumors, tumors of mesenchymal tissue, sarcoma and hepatoblastoma, a rare malignant tumor in children.

Benign

• Benign:
  • Hepatic Hemangioma are the most common liver tumors, found in up to 7% of autopsy specimens.
    • A rare tumor is Infantile Hemangioendothelioma.
  • Hepatic Adenoma, mainly in women using estrogens as contraceptives, or in cases of steroid abuse
  • Focal Nodular Hyperplasia
  • Nodular Regenerative Hyperplasia
  • Hamartoma

Resources

• The Johns Hopkins Liver Cancer Web Page
• MayoClinic.com: Liver cancer
• Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association