The sonographic appearance of hepatic hemangioma in utero.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Hepatic Hemangioma

“…We confirmed the vascular origin of the lesion using color Doppler ultrasound. In the other cases, diagnosis was antenatally suspected and confirmed by postnatal examinations [1][2][3][4], In all these cases as well as in this report, diagnosis was done during the third trimester of pregnancy.…”

“…In one case, ultrasound revealed a large hypoechogenic lesion in the left lobe of the fetal liver without any complications after birth [2], In a second case, hemangioma was described as a large cystic mass; the diagnosis was confirmed after surgery [3], Two other cases reported hyperechogenic masses: in one, the lesion was large resulting in hydrops fetalis and fetal death [1], and in the other, the authors de scribed a 1-cm mass in the right lobe of the fetal liver without any postnatal complica tions [4], In all these cases, as well as in ours, the final diagnosis was confirmed postnatally either by postmortem examination [ 1 ], by sur gery [3], or by the spontaneous evolution [4], After birth, diagnosis is easily done, gener ally using Doppler examination. By differ ential diagnosis, hepatoblastoma, neuroblas toma, mesenchymal hamartoma and hepatic metastasis are rapidly eliminated.…”

“…Although hemangioma is the most com mon benign hepatic tumor, its antenatal diag nosis has been rarely reported in the literature [1][2][3][4], Generally, differential diagnosis with other hepatic pathologies was difficult and confirmation of the final diagnosis occurred postnatally [5,6], The incidence of this lesion is certainly underestimated because heman giomas are often uncomplicated and resolve spontaneously during the first 2 years of life. In this article, we report a case of hepatic hemangioma diagnosed by prenatal sonogra phy and Doppler examination, confirming the vascular nature of this benign lesion.…”

Ultrasonographic appearances of fetal hepatic hemangioma.

“…A hepatic hemangioma can be hyperechoic, hypoechoic, or of mixed echogenicity. 3 Although the ultrasonographic appearance of a hepatic hemangioma may be similar to that of a hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma, these two entities can be distinguished using color Doppler sonography as the latter is avascular and is associated with calcification. 4 Hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma is a rare developmental abnormality that most commonly appears in infancy.…”

“…2 The antenatal detection of fetal hepatic hemangioma is uncommon. 3 The differential diagnosis of a fetal hepatic mass includes hemangioma, mesenchymal hamartoma, adenoma, hepatoblastoma, and metastatic neuroblastoma. On antenatal ultrasonographic examination, fetal hepatic masses can be solid, cystic (unilocular or multilocular), or complex (containing both cystic and solid components).…”