FOCAL NODULAR HYPERPLASIA OF THE LIVER - AN IMAGING CONUNDRUM

Focal nodular hyperplasia is a common benign tumour of the liver that usually does not require treatment. This tumour can be difficult to di stinguish noninvasively from other lesions in young patients that may require intervention, such as hepatic adenoma and fibrolamellar carcin oma. The authors report three cases of histologically proven focal nod ular hyperplasia and one case in which the imaging features strongly s uggested this tumour. These cases illustrate many of the variable imag ing features of focal nodular hyperplasia. The authors review the typi cal imaging findings for focal nodular hyperplasia, hepatic adenoma an d fibrolamellar carcinoma, indicate the areas of overlap that make non invasive diagnosis impossible and discuss the role of percutaneous bio psy in establishing the definitive diagnosis.