Calcified Cavernous Hemangioma of the Liver

Abstract

As far as can be ascertained, only 1 example has previously been recorded in the literature. Thirteen additional examples in 12 hypertensive women and 1 man, ranging between 67 and 86 years of age, were found in a collected autopsy series (18,915 cases). The roentgen-ray pattern of calcified hemangioma of the liver is characterized by spicules in the form of numerous trabeculations radiating from the central point toward the periphery of the lesion. This radiographic picture is relatively similar to that of visceral calcified hemangiomata elsewhere in the body. It constitutes a clinical diagnostic criterion leading to the differential diagnosis from other calcified lesions of the liver. The gross circumscribed mass simulates primary malignant or metastatic tumor of the liver, and it may remain for biopsy to prove the nature of the lesion. A clinical triad suggestive of calcified cavernous hemangioma of the liver is proposed, namely: (a) hypertension (chiefly in women); (b) hepatomegaly, of stony consistency (simulating primary or metastatic cancer); (c) characteristic roentgen calcification in the region of the liver with a tendency to radiating trabeculations from a common center toward the periphery.