Infarcted Giant Liver Hemangioma Presenting with Signs of Acute Inflammation A CASE TO REMEMBER

68 INTRODUCTION L iver hemangioma is the most common benign tumor of the liver (1–6). It is composed of cavities lined with endothelial cells and filled with blood (4). Giant liver hemangioma (GLH) is defined as a lesion greater than 4 cm in diameter (1). Most cases with liver hemangioma are asymptomatic and discovered incidentally on a liver ultrasound or computed tomography scan (2–4). Most patients with liver hemangioma have normal liver function tests (1,3–6). Infrequently, patients may complain of abdominal pain. There are few reported cases in the literature of patients with GLH who present with a triad of right upper quadrant abdominal pain, f e v e r, and abnormal liver enzymes (3–6). After careful workup, these cases had no evidence of infection, malign a n c y, or other causes of acute inflammation. Biochemical and clinical manifestations disappeared after surg i c a l resection. We describe a patient with infarcted GLH presenting with the same triad of signs and symptoms, which normalized after surgical resection. Infarcted Giant Liver Hemangioma Presenting with Signs of Acute Inflammation A CASE TO REMEMBER