Liver tumours, like tumours of any organ, can be classified as primary or secondary.
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Metastases
Liver metastases are by far the most common hepatic malignancy, with many of the most common primaries readily seeding to the liver. This is especially the case with gastrointestinal tract tumours, due to portal drainage through the liver 2.
Primary malignant tumours
-
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
- 80-90%
- usually in the setting of cirrhosis or hepatitis B virus
- intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
- 7-10%
- 20% in the Far East 1,2
-
hepatic angiosarcoma (previously known as Kupffer cell sarcoma)
- rare (~1%)
- Thorotrast and arsenic implicated 2
-
epithelioid haemangioendothelioma
- very rare
- younger patients than angiosarcomas 2
- other sarcomas, e.g. fibrosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, Kaposi sarcoma 5
- primary lymphoma
- biliary cystadenocarcinoma
-
hepatoblastoma
- seen in children
- embryonal sarcoma 5
Primary benign tumours
- hepatic haemangioma (most common)
- biliary hamartoma
- biliary cystadenoma
- hepatic adenoma
- focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH)
- hepatic angiomyolipoma
- hepatic myelolipoma 4
- lipoma
- leiomyoma 5
- benign teratoma 5
- peliosis hepatis 5
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