Surgery of benign liver tumors: indications for treatment: twenty years' experience.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to give an audit of the experiences in the Institute of Experimental Surgery, at the University of Szeged, over the past 2 decades in the form of a retrospective study.


METHODS
Between January 1982 and December 2001, 132 patients with benign liver tumor (adenoma: 22; focal nodular hyperplasia: 27; hemangioma: 83) were treated. A total of 112 patients underwent surgery, while 20 asymptomatic cases were merely observed. The mean age, the female/male ratio and the size of the tumor in the adenoma cases were 38.2 years, 20/2 and 7.7cm, while for focal nodular hyperplasia they were 39.4, 24/3 and 6.3cm, and for hemangioma 49.0, 62/21 and 6.5cm. The results were compared and analyzed statistically.


RESULTS
Enucleation was performed in 45.4% of the patients, nonanatomical resection in 35.6%, segmentectomy in 7%, lobectomy in 3.8%, extended lobectomy in 1.5%, stitching in 4.5%, exploration in 2.3% and liver transplantation in 0.8%. The mortality was 0.8%. Complications occurred in a total of 23.5% of the cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with asymptomatic focal nodular hyperplasia or hemangiomas must be excluded from surgery. Surgery is indicated only when growth or severe complaints are observed. Adenomas must be resected because of the precancerous behavior and the danger of bleeding from a rupture.
Petri
András
A
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. pa@surg.szote.u-szeged.hu
Höhn
József
J
Kókai
Erzsébet László
EL
Savanya
Gábor Kocsis
GK
Lázár
György
G
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors