Benign Hepatic Neoplasms

Historically benign liver tumors were encountered incidentally during laparotomy or more re‐ cently during laparoscopy at which time definitive histological diagnosis can be established. However, with the utilization of advanced imaging modalities hepatic neoplasms have been in‐ creasingly identified, with a prevalence rate of up to 50% reported among the general popula‐ tion [1]. Among these incidental lesions, 83% were characterized as benign neoplasms, as outlined in Table 1 [1-3]. Benign hepatic neoplasms represent a diverse group of tumors that de‐ velop from either epithelial or mesenchymal cell lines (Table 2), and while the frequency of such lesions is not well documented, more than 50% are classified as hemangiomas [1]. Focal nodu‐ lar hyperplasia (FNH) and hepatic adenomas represent the next most frequently diagnosed be‐ nign tumors. A variety of additional exceedingly rare benign lesions have also been described most of which are sufficiently infrequent enough to be classified as “fascinomas” [1].