What is hepatic hemangioma?

  Hepatic hemangioma is a relatively common benign tumor of the liver, with cavernous hemangioma being the most common clinically. It is common in middle-aged women and is mostly solitary or multiple, with approximately equal incidence in the left and right liver.  The clinical manifestations of the disease are related to the size, location, growth rate, and degree of liver tissue invasion of the hemangioma. Patients usually have no obvious discomfort and are often detected during examination or abdominal surgery. When the tumor increases in size, it mainly manifests as large liver or compression of adjacent organs such as stomach and duodenum, causing symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, bloating, belching and abdominal pain, with abdominal pain being the most common. The cause of its pathogenesis is unclear, and it is generally a congenital developmental abnormality. During development, the abnormal development of blood vessels causes tumor-like hyperplasia and hemangioma. In addition, female puberty, pregnancy and oral contraceptives can accelerate the growth of hemangioma, and it is thought that female hormones may be a causative factor of hemangioma. Because hepatic hemangioma grows slowly, has few symptoms, and has no risk of cancer, it usually does not require treatment and regular clinical follow-up is sufficient. The disease can be diagnosed by ultrasound, CT and MRI (nuclear magnetic) examinations. Treatment should be considered for patients who have symptoms of tumor compression or whose hemangioma grows under the rib arch and is at risk of traumatic rupture. Currently, the main treatment method for hepatic hemangioma is surgical resection. Other treatment methods include hemangioma resection, hemangioma suture, hepatic artery ligation, microwave curing, radiofrequency treatment, hepatic artery embolization, etc. For diffuse hepatic hemangioma or huge hemangioma that cannot be resected, such as liver failure or combined with Kasabach-Merritt syndrome, liver transplantation is also feasible.  Hepatic hemangioma is not a difficult disease to diagnose and generally does not require treatment. For patients with symptoms of compression or risk of tumor rupture, multiple treatment modalities, mainly surgical resection, can be considered.