Liver cell adenoma, also known as hepatic or hepatocellular adenoma, is when you develop an abnormal, benign growth in your liver, also known as a tumour. These tumours are not cancerous and cannot spread to other parts of the body, but they can cause abdominal swelling, pain, internal bleeding, and other dangerous symptoms. Therefore, it is important to have them treated as quickly as possible.
Liver cell adenoma is extremely rare and most commonly found in young women on birth control. However, it can happen to anyone and must be treated or monitored in all cases. Even if it does not become cancerous, liver cell adenoma is painful and dangerous.
Not all cases of liver cell adenoma require immediate treatment, depending on the size of the tumour and what is causing it. Therefore, if you catch the tumour early enough, your doctor may take a wait-and-see approach. In other words, they will closely monitor the growth of the tumour and take corrective action if it gets larger or worsens.
Your doctor will also tell you to stop taking any medications that you are currently taking that could have caused your liver cell adenoma. Doctors are more likely to recommend the wait-and-see approach for women than for men because it is more common for benign liver cell adenoma to turn cancerous in men than in women.
If you are a man or your liver cell adenoma is dangerous, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the benign tumour. When the wait-and-see approach is not an option, surgery is the most effective way to cure liver cell adenoma. It is always recommended for men and women with B-catenin-activated forms of liver cell adenoma. Surgery is also the preferred treatment for tumours that are at risk of bursting or are more than two inches long.
The goal of surgery is to remove the tumour and all affected cells in their entirety. Leaving behind any trace of the tumour could lead to the development of a second one and more problems.
If the tumour does not require immediate removal but is on the spectrum of being dangerous, your doctor may recommend transarterial embolization. With this treatment, your doctor will surgically block the flow of blood to the tumour, which keeps it from growing larger. This is done in the hope that the tumour will start to shrink and you will not need surgery.
Another option for treating liver cell adenoma is to use radiofrequency ablation. Radiofrequency ablation is where the tissue of a tumour is superheated with an electric current. This essentially destroys the tissue in that area and eliminates the benign cells. In addition to potentially eradicating the tumour from your body, radiofrequency ablation is also helpful in treating pain that stems from your adenoma.
Radiofrequency ablation is a good treatment option if your tumour does not require immediate surgery or if the tumour is in an area that is too dangerous for surgical removal. However, you will require several rounds of treatment, and it is not always effective.
While liver cell adenoma is not cancerous and does not always become cancerous, it can be dangerous, nonetheless. The tumour can lead to internal bleeding and extreme pain and have life-threatening ramifications. Therefore, even if your liver cell adenoma tumour does not need to be removed, it should be diagnosed and closely monitored. If it becomes dangerous, you will need to have the tumour removed as soon as possible.