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Q: What exactly is a Hemangioma and what causes these to form? I recently had a right colon resection with ileocolostomy and during a CT scan concerning the above they found a 3 cm hemangioma on my liver. Could this be related to the surgery in any way and is there any reason to be concerned about this? Is there a need for another CT or any test for this in the future? Is there any danger of bleeding if I were to be injured in that area?
A: In general, tumors and, in particular, liver tumors, may be classified as benign or malignant. Hemangiomas a the most common form of benign tumors. They may be single, multiple, small, or large. Hemangiomas do not usually cause any clinical symptoms. A hemangioma contains contains anomalous communications between arteries and veins, which arise when an arrest occurs in the development of a capillary network, thus leading to persisting intercommunicating channels between arteries and veins and to hemangioma formation. Liver hemangiomas are frequently incidental findings on CT or MRI.
Although liver hemangiomas may occasionally rupture, they do so to a lesser extent than liver adenomas. Fine-needle biopsy may be sometimes necessary to differentiate these tumors from others and does not appear to carry an increased risk. Nevertheless, it should only be performed if absolutely necessary because of the theoretical possibility of increased bleeding.
Specifically responding to your question, it appears that in your case, as is typically the case, the hemangioma was discovered as an incidental finding and did not cause any symptoms. It was probably already present previous to the surgery and is not related to it. Hemangiomas usually do not require treatment and there is no reason to be overly concerned about them. However, I would recommend periodic reevaluations with CT or MRI in order to establish whether any changes have occurred in the tumor. The precise frequency of these reevaluations should be decided by your physician, depending on your particular case. Regarding the possibility of bleeding if you were to be injured in the area of the hemangioma, you should again not be overly concerned. However, there is a theoretical risk of this possibility in view of the characteristic internal structure of a hemangioma, as described above.
Updated: 07/09/99
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