Surgical resection for hepatic space occupying lesions: a histopathological analysis

Abstract

Background: Hepatic resections are done for both neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases of liver with malignancies constituting a major share of cases. The objective of this study was to assess the various neoplatic and non-neoplastic lesions in hepatic resection specimens and to categorize the various histopathological types of primary and secondary liver tumors.Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Academy of Medical sciences, Pariyaram. This was a hospital based study which included 79 patients who underwent hepatic resection for space occupying lesions over a period of 5 years from January 2012 to December 2016. IHC was performed in cases with diagnostic dilemma.Results: Of the 79 cases, there were 45 males and 34 females with the age range of 22-85 years. There were 70 neoplastic lesions out of which 11 were benign with 6 cavernous hemangiomas, 3 hepatic adenomas and one each of intraductal papillary neoplasm and mucinous cystic neoplasm. Among the 59 malignant lesions, hepatocellular carcinomas predominated followed by metastatic malignancies and cholangiocarcinomas. Of the metastatic malignancies, adenocarcinoma from gastrointestinal primary was the commonest followed by metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor.Conclusions: Liver is a frequent site for many neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases with malignant neoplasms forming the major bulk. Non-neoplastic lesions like simple liver cysts and focal nodular hyperplasia showed female predominance while benign neoplasms like cavernous hemangioma and hepatic adenomas were seen exclusively in females. Of the malignant liver tumors, hepatocellular carcinoma was the commonest followed by metastatic malignancy, gastrointestinal tract being the commonest source of primary tumor.