Surgery of benign liver tumors

The most frequent benign liver tumors are hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and adenoma. It is essential for the diagnosis to differentiate these lesions from malignant tumors. While sonography, bolus-CT scan, chole-/bloodpool scintigraphy usually yield a safe diagnosis of hemangioma or FNH, adenomas do not show characteristic features. Operation is indicated for hemangioma of FNH only in case of tumor growth and/or symptoms. Operation for adenoma is as a rule indicated because of possible malignant transformation or uncertain differentiation from malignoma. Operative procedures include anatomical/atypical liver resection, ex situ resection or liver transplantation.