title: Predictors of Benign Status in Liver Tumors Under 3 cm in Diameter Misdiagnosed as Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clinical features of benign liver lesions misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma have not been fully described.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 187 patients who underwent hepatectomy at the Kyushu University Hospital following a diagnosis of solitary HCC of ≤3 cm in diameter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following hepatectomy, 9.6% patients were pathologically diagnosed with benign liver lesions. Univariate analysis showed that patient age ≤67 years, negativity for hepatitis C virus antigen, lesion size ≤1.5 cm, normal level of tumor markers, and absence of increase in tumor size were associated with benign lesions. Patient age ≤67 years and absence of tumor size increase were independent predictors of benign lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Benign liver lesions misdiagnosed as HCC were not infrequent, accounting for approximately 10% of resected cases. Age ≤67 years and absence of tumor size increase were independent predictors of benign liver lesions, and may help in the correct diagnosis of HCC.
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan cubicseal@gmail.com.
authors: Koichi
authors: K
authors: Kimura
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Shinji
authors: S
authors: Itoh
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Kurihara
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Yoshihiro
authors: Y
authors: Yoshida
authors: Department of Anatomic Pathology, Pathological Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Huanlin
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Norifumi
authors: N
authors: Harimoto
authors: Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Akihiro
authors: A
authors: Nishie
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Shirabe
authors: Department of Anatomic Pathology, Pathological Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Yoshinao
authors: Y
authors: Oda
authors: Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Yoshihiko
authors: Y
authors: Maehara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D047368:Tumor Burden; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures
keywords: Benign lesion; hepatectomy; hepatocellular carcinoma; misdiagnosed; tumor size