Epidemiology


Etiology


Pathophysiology


Clinical features


Diagnostics


Differential diagnostics


Metastatic liver disease

  • Most common malignant liver lesion
  • Typical primary tumor sites: gastrointestinal tract (colon, stomach, pancreas), lung, and breast
  • The most common cause of liver metastases is colorectal cancer, which spreads directly from the colon or superior rectum through the portal venous system to the liver.

Hepatic angiosarcoma

  • Etiology: associated with exposure to vinyl chloride, arsenic, or thorium dioxide
  • Clinical features
    • Nonspecific (abdominal pain, weight loss, jaundice, ascites, anemia)
    • Can manifest acutely with hypotension and abdominal pain (indicating hemorrhage)
  • Diagnostics
    • Histology: endothelial cells positive for PECAM-1 (CD31)L77807.png
  • Prognosis
    • Poor (∼ 6 months)
    • Often metastatic at time of diagnosis, high recurrence rate

Benign liver tumors

Hepatocellular adenoma

  • Epidemiology
    • Uncommon, benign liver tumor
    • Young women
    • Associated with estrogen exposure (eg, OCPs) & anabolic steroid use
  • Clinical
    • Often asymptomatic
    • Abdominal pain (due to hepatomegaly, bleeding, or necrosis)
    • Life-threatening intraabdominal bleeding (due to tumor rupture)
  • PathologyL79271.png
    • Solitary, well-circumscribed, unencapsulated liver mass
    • Sheets or plates of benign hepatocytes
    • Prominent arteries without portal tracts or interlobular bile ducts
    • Hemorrhage & necrosis

Focal nodular hyperplasia

L70901.png

Treatment