Hepatic splenosis misinterpreted as hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients referred for liver transplantation: report of two cases.

Liver transplantation is one of the main therapeutic options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring in cirrhotic patients; an accurate diagnosis and staging of this cancer is crucial to selecting the candidates for this treatment. Although the best diagnostic strategy is debated, the guidelines proposed by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) are used by many centers. We report 2 cases of cirrhotic patients with hepatic splenosis, a rare condition that may be misinterpreted as HCC. In conclusion, the application of the EASL guidelines in the first case would have led to an incorrect staging of the cancer and in the second case would have led to a false diagnosis of HCC.