Are multiple hemangiomas of the liver serious?

Multiple hemangiomas of the liver are a very common liver disease in the human body. The occurrence of multiple hemangiomas of the liver can easily lead to blood blockage in the liver, affecting the normal function of the liver. It can also easily lead to vascular bleeding in the liver, causing temporary shock or fainting, etc. It is a relatively serious disease for physical health and requires early treatment.

Are multiple hemangiomas of the liver serious?

Etiology and pathogenesis of hepatic hemangioma

At present, the exact cause of hepatic hemangioma is still unclear, and there are mainly the following theories:

1. Congenital developmental abnormality theory: Currently, most scholars believe that the occurrence of hemangioma is caused by congenital peripheral vascular malformation of the liver. It is generally believed that during embryonic development, due to abnormal development of liver blood vessels, abnormal proliferation of vascular endothelial cells leads to the formation of liver hemangioma;

2. Hormone stimulation theory: Some scholars have observed that the growth rate of hemangiomas can be accelerated during female puberty, pregnancy, and oral contraceptives, and believe that female hormones may also be one of the pathogenic mechanisms of hemangiomas;

3. Others: such as deformation of capillary tissue after infection, leading to capillary dilation; blood vessel dilation to form cavitation after local necrosis of liver tissue, and congestion and dilation of surrounding blood vessels; regional blood circulation stagnation in the liver, causing the blood vessels to form sponge-like dilation.

Clinical manifestations and signs of hepatic hemangioma

1. Smaller hepatic hemangiomas usually have no obvious symptoms, while patients with larger hepatic hemangiomas may experience upper abdominal distension and pain. If the tumor is huge and compresses nearby organs, it may cause abdominal distension, anorexia, jaundice, lower limb edema, etc. When thrombosis or bleeding occurs within the tumor, it can cause transient acute abdominal pain. Hemangioma rupture causes acute intra-abdominal hemorrhage and giant hemangioma leads to DIC due to extensive thrombosis and consumption of a large amount of coagulation factors;

2. Smaller hemangiomas have no physical signs, but larger hemangiomas may cause a palpable mass in the right upper abdomen and an enlarged liver;

3. Hemangiomas are mostly single and their diameter is usually less than 4 cm. Hepatic hemangioma is often discovered accidentally during physical examination or B-ultrasound examination. Its size, shape and number are not fixed and it is often congenital.

Complications of hepatic hemangioma

Suffering from hepatic hemangioma disease may also cause other complications. The common complications of hepatic hemangioma are mainly the following:

1. Rupture and bleeding of hepatic hemangioma: may cause acute abdomen or internal bleeding and shock symptoms;

2. Thrombocytopenia and hypofibrinogenemia: A small number of patients with hepatic hemangioma often suffer from this disease due to coagulation disorder;

3. Enlarged liver: When hepatic hemangioma grows to a certain size, it will cause enlarged liver;

4. Liver cyst: About 10% of patients with hepatic hemangioma will develop liver cyst.

Hepatic hemangioma appears purple or blue-purple, is often irregularly lobed, and has a soft or elastic texture. The cross-section is honeycomb or spongy, with thrombus and fibrous scar formation, occasionally accompanied by calcification or calcification of the entire hemangioma. In the late stage of the disease, it resembles a scar, so it is called sclerosing hemangioma.