Inflammatory process complicating giant hemangioma of the liver: report of three cases.

Three cases of giant hemangioma of the liver associated with clinical and laboratory signs of inflammatory process, including low-grade fever, weight loss, abdominal pain, accelerated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, anemia, thrombocytosis, and increased fibrinogen level with normal white blood cell count are described. One patient presented with slight cholestatic jaundice because of tumor-related bile duct compression, but the other two patients had normal liver function tests, except for a slight increase in gammaglutamyl transferase. Clinical and laboratory abnormalities disappeared after surgical excision. Inflammatory manifestations have rarely been reported during giant liver hemangioma. Intratumoral inflammation necrosis or bleeding could explain the symptoms but histological signs of inflammation were not detected in two of three surgical specimens. The release of immune mediators by liver endothelial cells lining the hemangioma is an alternative explanation. The incidence of inflammatory process complicating giant hemangioma is probably underestimated because our three cases were observed within a span of only 3 years. Copyright 1998 W.B. Saunders Company.