Paediatric malignant liver tumours are rare, some of which occur only in children but that are similar to those that occur in adults.
On this page:
Epidemiology
Malignant liver tumours account for ~1% of paediatric malignancies 2.
Pathology
Broadly, any malignant liver mass can be defined as a metastasis or primary liver tumour. The commonest source of paediatric liver metastases is neuroblastoma 1.
Primary malignant hepatic neoplasms in children can broadly be classified by their cell of origin 1:
- epithelial (hepatocyte-derived)
- hepatoblastoma: most common paediatric malignant liver tumour accounting for two-thirds
- hepatocellular carcinoma
- fibrolamellar carcinoma
- mesenchyme
- vascular
Practical points
An understanding of the clinicopathologic features of these neoplasms and how these features affect their imaging appearance helps the radiologist offer an appropriate differential diagnosis for a child with a liver mass.