How to surgically treat hepatic hemangioma

  Hepatic hemangioma cavemosum (HHC) is one of the most common benign tumors of the liver, most of which are cavernous hemangiomas, with a relatively low incidence of 0.35%-7% at autopsy. In recent years, due to the advancement of various diagnostic imaging techniques and the increased awareness of health checkups, the number of outpatients with hepatic hemangioma is increasing, and the proportion of asymptomatic visits is gradually increasing. However, there are few basic and clinical researches on this disease, and there is a lack of mature and strict diagnostic and treatment criteria, and there are some vague or even wrong understanding on the classification of tumor size, definition of surgical indications, and selection of surgery. Traditional surgical treatment, radiofrequency ablation, hepatic artery embolization, radiation therapy, intraoperative microwave curing, freezing and sclerotherapy coexist, and there is no unified clinical pathway for doctors and patients to choose the treatment plan. In this paper, we review the current diagnosis and treatment of hepatic hemangioma, its classification, indications for surgery and its treatment options, and provide reference for future diagnosis and treatment of hepatic hemangioma.  Because of the lack of specific clinical manifestations of hepatic hemangioma, imaging examinations (such as B ultrasound, CT and MR) are the main ways to diagnose hepatic hemangioma in China. Ultrasound examination is cheap, popular, safe, reliable and reproducible, and is often used in clinical screening of hepatic hemangioma. In the literature, it has been reported that small hepatic hemangiomas are mostly strongly echogenic occupants with clear borders on B ultrasound, while larger hepatic hemangiomas show clear borders, disorganized internal echogenicity, and uneven intensity, and CT is characterized by “fast in, slow out” and nodular enhancement after enhancement. Cui Yan and Dong Jiahong reported that MRI has special diagnostic significance for this disease.12 The weighted image shows characteristic “light bulb sign”-like high signal, and the sensitivity of MRI is 73%-100% and the specificity is 83%-97%, which should be ranked as the second choice after B ultrasound. Based on the above imaging examinations, the localization of hepatic hemangioma is not difficult to diagnose, but when necrosis, liquefaction and fibrosis occur in the hemangioma, and the heterogeneous changes, the imaging may resemble liver cancer. Geng Xiaoping reported that compared with primary liver cancer, patients with hepatic hemangioma generally have a longer disease duration, are in good general condition, have liver function within normal limits, rarely have a history of hepatitis and cirrhosis, and have negative blood AFP. These clinical features will help to diagnose this disease.  Classification of hepatic hemangioma Hepatic hemangioma is classified into sclerosing hemangioma, vascular endothelioma, capillary hemangioma and cavernous hemangioma according to histological classification. However, this classification has little significance in guiding the treatment of hepatic hemangioma, and the classification according to diameter is mostly used now. At present, Professor Wen Hao et al. suggested classifying hepatic hemangioma according to the size of hepatic hemangioma: ≤5cm (small hemangioma); 5cm-10cm (hemangioma); 10cm-15cm (giant hemangioma); >15cm (very large hemangioma), which may have certain guidance for the selection of treatment plan for patients with hepatic hemangioma and provide effective reference for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic hemangioma.  3.Treatment of hepatic hemangioma According to the classification of diagnosed and non-ruptured hepatic hemangioma, we propose to do a prospective study of multicenter clinical treatment, and to strictly apply its indications: for the diameter ≤5cm (small hemangioma), the chance of rupture is very small, especially those without clinical symptoms, most of them do not need surgery, and they can be followed up regularly to understand their growth and changes; however, for those with heavy mental burden and those located on the surface of the liver or far from the vascular bile ducts, they should be treated with surgery. However, for those with heavy mental burden and those located on the surface of the liver or far away from the vascular bile ducts, radiofrequency ablation therapy is the preferred non-surgical treatment method. For 10cm-15cm (giant hemangioma), the possibility of rupture increases, and surgery is recommended; for >15cm (very large hemangioma), the possibility of rupture increases significantly with the diameter, and surgery is recommended after a good explanation to the patient.