A Symptomatic Giant Hepatic Hemangioma Treated with Hepatectomy

We describe a patient with symptomatic giant hepatic hemangioma treated with hepatectomy. A 53-year-old woman presented with upper abdominal distension and appetite loss. The medical history included multiple hepatic hemangiomas that had been detected 2 years earlier but were left untreated. Initial laboratory tests revealed pancytopenia and mild coagulopathy. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a giant hemangioma, 27 cm in diameter, in the enlarged right lobe of the liver. The inferior vena cava was compressed by tumor without thrombus in the infrahepatic vena cava. The portal venous phase of supramesenteric arteriography revealed compression of the portal vein. There were several hemangiomas in the left lobe. Gastric outlet obstruction due to giant hepatic hemangioma in the right lobe was diagnosed. Laparotomy was performed, and a markedly enlarged liver was detected. Right hepatectomy was performed with an anterior approach. The liver-hanging maneuver could not be performed because of tumor compression of the inferior vena cava. Right hepatectomy was performed with intermittent clamping (Pringle maneuver). Hepatic hemangiomas of the left lobe were not resected because the remnant liver would be reduced. The weight of the resected specimen was 2,100 g. Pathologic examination of the surgical specimen confirmed the presence of benign hepatic hemangiomas. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient's appetite improved. The patient was discharged 8 days after the operation. Abdominal distension decreased and laboratory data improved after the operation. Computed tomography revealed hypertrophy of the left lobe of the liver after the operation. (J Nippon Med Sch 2011: 78: 34-39)