Microhamartoma of the Liver with Early Esophageal Cancer

Tetsuya Takahashi, Shinji Togo, Hirohiko Mochizuki, Akira Nakano, Shigeo Ohki, Hiroshi Shimada

The Second Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University

A 56-year-old woman was admitted to our department complaining of epigastralgia, and was endoscopically diagnosed with early esophageal cancer. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) showed multiple low density areas in the right lobe of the liver. Abdominal ultrasonography (US) showed the characteristic findings of small, low echoic lesions with multiple high echoic spots. Needle biopsy could not determine the histological finding preoperatively. We diagnosed metastasis of the liver from the early esophageal cancer. Operative findings included multiple yellow-white nodules 1-3 mm in diameter scattered throughout the liver, and histological study of the wedge biopsy specimen revealed benign microhamartoma. Microhamartoma of the liver, which is a rare disease, may be mistaken for diffuse hepatocellular carcinoma or multiple metastases due to their similar appearance in imaging. But findings of a mixture of small low echoic lesions and multiple high echoic spots on US and enhanced small low density areas on CT would indicate microhamartoma of the liver.

Key words
microhamartoma, von Meyenburg's complexes

Reprint requests
Tetsuya Takahashi The Second Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University
3-9 Fukuura Kanazawa-ku Yokohama City, 236 JAPAN

Accepted
October 11, 1995

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