Focal nodular hyperplasia in children, adolescents, and young adults.
BACKGROUND
Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is a benign hepatic tumor that is rare in children. In order to understand whether there are differences in the etiology or appearance of FNH in children, we analyzed the clinical information and imaging of pathologically proven cases.


METHODS
A pathology database was used to identify all cases of FNH diagnosed at our institution. Each patient's imaging was evaluated for the characteristics of FNH lesions. Clinical information was obtained on each patient.


RESULTS
Thirteen patients with FNH were identified (7 male/6 female, mean age 14.3 years, range 1-27 years). Seven patients (5 male/2 female) had a remote history of childhood malignancy. The time interval between the diagnoses of malignancy and FNH ranged from 9 to 27 years (mean 14.4 years). On imaging, all seven cancer survivors had multiple liver lesions. In the remaining six patients (2 male/4 female), there was no history of malignancy and all but one of these patients had a solitary FNH.


CONCLUSIONS
Half of the patients with FNH in this study were long-term cancer survivors and each of these patients had multiple masses. Recognizing the features of FNH will aid in diagnosis and appropriate management.
Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Ave., ML# 5031, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA. Alexander.Towbin@cchmc.org
Alexander J
AJ
Towbin
Guangju G
GG
Luo
Hong
H
Yin
Jun Q
JQ
Mo
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D020518:Focal Nodular Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D017741:Survivors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed