Primary hepatic vascular tumours. A clinicopathologic study of 10 cases.

Background: Primary hepatic vascular neoplasms constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with characteristic histology and variable tumour biology.

Objective: To provide an updated overview on clinicopathological features, treatment and outcome of primary hepatic vascular tumours.

Methods: In our retrospective study, we reviewed 10 cases of primary hepatic vascular tumours that were diagnosed at the pathology department of Mongi Slim hospital over a thirteen-year period (2000-2012). Relevant clinical information and microscopic slides were available in all cases and were retrospec- tively reviewed.

Results: Our study group included 4 men and 6 women (sex ra- tio M/F = 0.66) aged between 23 and 78 years (mean = 55.5 years). Based on imaging studies, preoperative diagnosis of hemangioma was accurately made in only three cases. Three cases were misdiagnosed preoperatively as having hydatid cyst and four cases of hemangiomas were misdiagnosed preoperatively as liver metastases. All our patients underwent surgical resection of the tumour. Histopathological examination of the surgical specimen established the diagnosis of angiosarcoma in one case, cavernous hemangioma in 8 cases and sclerosing hemangioma in one case.

Conclusions: Hepatic tumours are increasingly detected incidentally due to widespread use of modern abdominal imaging techniques. Therefore, reliable noninvasive characterization and differentiation of such liver tumours is of major importance for clinical practice. Definitive diagnosis is based on histopathologic examination.