Five Cases of Syphilitic Hepar Lobatum with Portal Obstruction

Tertiary syphilis mimicking metastatic rectal cancer

“…Hepatic gummata and visceral gummata more broadly were a previously well-recognized consequence of prolonged syphilis infection, achieving relative obscurity following the advent of penicillin antibiotics in the mid-20th century [ 3 ]. Hepar lobatum, a lobulated distortion of the liver secondary to multiple cicatrising lesions, was previously used exclusively to describe the gummatous liver, although has since been co-opted to describe similar changes observed in the setting of metastatic adenocarcinoma [ 4 ].…”