Hepatic failure in a rapidly involuting congenital hemangioma of the liver: failure of embolotherapy

We report the clinical course, imaging findings, and management of a rare case of rapidly involuting congenital hemangioma of the liver in a newborn girl. The baby presented with severe progressive hepatic dysfunction and cardiomegaly. Multimodality imaging demonstrated a large hypervascular solitary hepatic mass with marked transhepatic shunting, consistent with rapidly involuting congenital hemangioma. Because medical therapy failed, transarterial and transvenous embolization was performed with the main intention to improve the hepatic perfusion and function. Unfortunately, despite improvement in the cardiac overload, liver function continued to deteriorate. The baby eventually underwent successful liver transplantation.