Key Takeaways
- A liver hemangioma is a noncancerous mass of blood vessels that typically doesn’t cause symptoms and is often discovered during tests for other conditions.
- Although most liver hemangiomas do not require treatment, monitoring may be necessary, and in rare instances, surgery, radiotherapy, or liver transplant may be recommended for large or symptomatic tumors.
- While liver hemangiomas rarely lead to complications, it’s important to discuss risk factors with your doctor, especially if you are pregnant, undergoing hormone therapy, or have existing liver disease.
Most people are unaware they have a hemangioma, and will not experience any symptoms.
However, in some cases, it can lead to health complications, so a doctor will typically monitor the hemangioma and any symptoms you may experience.
A liver hemangioma is a tangled network of blood vessels in or on the surface of the liver. This tumor is noncancerous and usually doesn’t cause symptoms.
Most people don’t know they have a liver hemangioma and don’t experience any symptoms. It’s usually only discovered during a test or procedure for an unrelated condition.
Females are
A liver hemangioma doesn’t increase your risk of developing cancer. The tumor is usually small, measuring less than 4 centimeters (cm) in diameter. In some cases, however, it can grow larger, and a tumor larger than 5 cm is more likely to cause symptoms, such as abdominal pain and nausea.
Pregnant people, those using estrogen therapy, and people using birth control have a higher risk of developing a large hemangioma. This is because estrogen may contribute to hemangioma growth.
Most people only have one liver hemangioma. However, it’s possible for several hemangiomas to form on the liver at once.
Although the tumor isn’t cancerous,
In rare cases, a hemangioma can spontaneously rupture or an abscess can form.
Hemangioma in babies
In babies, the growth is called an infantile hepatic hemangioma. It’s usually diagnosed before the baby is 6 months old, as this is when 80% of the hemangioma growth happens.
Once diagnosed, it is important for doctors and other healthcare professionals to recognize whether the tumor has any high risk features, such as risk to other parts of the body, coexisting congenital irregularities, bleeding disorders, and whether or not it is likely to become cancerous (malignant).
In most cases, a liver hemangioma doesn’t cause symptoms. However, symptoms can occur in some cases, such as if the tumor has been aggravated by an injury or affected by a change in estrogen levels.
- general abdominal pain
- pain in the upper right side of the abdomen
- feeling of fullness or a lack of appetite
Even if you have a liver hemangioma, you may experience these symptoms, but they may be caused by something else. Consider contacting your doctor if you have any symptoms that you feel should be examined.
Experts are unsure why blood vessels clump together to form a liver hemangioma.
They believe there could be different causes, including:
- developmental anomalies
- injury (although this has not been proven)
- pregnancy
- genetic irregularities, such as cavernous hemangiomas in von Hippel-Lindau disease
People between the ages of 30 and 50 are most commonly diagnosed with a hemangioma.
Females are
People who use hormone therapy to increase their estrogen levels are also at an increased risk of developing a liver hemangioma.
A liver hemangioma usually doesn’t cause symptoms, so it often goes undiagnosed. It’s typically found incidentally during a test or procedure for another medical condition.
A liver hemangioma may be discovered during an imaging test, such as an ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) scan, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, which are low risk, noninvasive tests that create pictures of various organs and tissues inside the body. They enable a doctor to see the liver and its surrounding structures in greater detail.
Most liver hemangiomas don’t require treatment, and only some need monitoring. However, a hemangioma may need to be removed surgically if it’s large and growing or causing symptoms.
A liver hemangioma can grow if there’s a significant amount of blood flowing to it. If it causes significant pain or damage to a part of the liver, your doctor may decide to remove the entire affected section of the liver.
In this case, your doctor may tie off the main artery that’s supplying blood to the hemangioma. The areas surrounding the liver will get blood from other arteries and remain healthy. This surgical procedure is known as hepatic artery ligation.
In other cases, your doctor may decide to inject a medication into the hemangioma to block the blood supply, which shrinks the tumor. This is called arterial embolization.
A liver transplant may be required, but only in very rare instances. In fact, only 25 liver transplants for hemangioma were performed over a 25-year period. During a liver transplant, the damaged liver is replaced with a donor’s liver. This is only necessary if the hemangioma is extremely large or if multiple hemangiomas don’t respond to other treatments.
Liver hemangiomas rarely cause any complications. Complications that can arise in very rare cases include:
- enlarged hemangioma
- liver damage
- severe pain
Talk with your doctor about how you can reduce your risk for these complications, especially if you’re pregnant, using hormone therapy, or have liver disease.
A liver hemangioma rarely causes future complications. However, a hemangioma may become problematic if it enlarges.
Pay attention to any symptoms that could be related to an enlarged hemangioma, such as persistent pain in your upper right abdomen.
It’s also important to take care of your liver. Lifestyle modifications, such as reducing alcohol intake, maintaining a moderate weight, and considering quitting smoking if you’re a smoker, can lower your risk of developing other, more serious liver conditions.
A liver hemangioma is a benign tumor that often presents no medical symptoms or complications.
Doctors may find a hemangioma during an investigation of another health condition.
If you have concerns about your liver health, always speak with a doctor or another healthcare professional, as they can offer the best advice on diagnosis, symptom management, and, if necessary, treatment of liver-related conditions.