Dr. Klompenhouwer on the Resection of Larger Hepatocellular Adenomas

Anne Julia Klompenhouwer, MD, Department of Surgery at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, discusses when it is justified to resect a larger hepatocellular adenoma for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The focus of a recent study was to determine when to resect large liver adenomas to avoid complications. Generally, adenomas more than 5 centimeters should be resected, explains Klompenhouwer, but the question remains to be when perform the resection.

The guidelines currently states to wait 6 months before resection. However, in this retrospective study, 100 patients with untreated adenomas needed 1.5 years until their tumors regressed to under 5 centimeters.