Benign Liver Hemangiomas

Hello - I had a CT of my abdomen and it showed liver lesions, so my GI doctor ordered a MRI of abdomen specifically of the liver. The results are in and I am confused. It states that: There are several similar appearing T2 hyperintense, T1  hypointense lesions in multi left and right hepatic lobes would show a similar enhancement pattern of peripheral nodular discontiguous enhancement with gradual centripedal fill-in. Then it goes on to list 7 different segments for examples. The largest is seen to measure 11mm. No concerning web lesion is evident. Impression: Liver lesions as described above, correlate with the patients prior CT  scan and are mostlye consistent with benign hemangiomas. No additional follow up or workup is recommended. Liver lesions appear benign on MRI. So my doctors are dismissing it. I have a sometimes sharp pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, sometimes it hurts when I breath in deep and sometimes the pain radiates into my right shoulder blade. It is very uncomfortable and scary at times. I did have a CT of my chest to check for PE and it came back fine. What should my next steps be? I have consulted University of Michigan Liver Tumor Clinic and am trying to get an appt. for a second opinion there.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Benign hemangiomas are best left alone unless they cause pressure symptoms when therapy needs to be planned. Liver function tests can help assess the functional status of the liver. The other causes could be gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and GERD. Sometimes anxiety with flatulence can cause this pain. Discuss these options with your doctor when you happen to meet him next time.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.