Gastroenterology

Answer 4 Perform no further evaluation or therapy. Cavernous hemangiomas are the most common benign mesenchymal hepatic tumors, usually affecting females between the third and fifth decades of life. Treatment is usually conservative, unless the tumor is exceptionally large (causing pressure on adjacent organs) or painful (caused by stretching of the liver capsule and/or intermittent thrombosis). Chemoembolization is usually reserved for patients with hepatocellular cancers, as is the measurement of serum AFP levels. Right hepatectomy and surgical enucleation of the tumor would be unwarranted in a tumor of this size that is causing no symptoms. Click here to return to the questions

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