Diagnostic Approach to Hepatic Mass Lesions and Role of Immunohistochemistry

Esmeralda Celia Marginean; Allen M Gown; Dhanpat Jain

doi:10.1016/j.path.2013.03.005

Diagnostic Approach to Hepatic Mass Lesions and Role of Immunohistochemistry

Surg Pathol Clin. 2013 Jun;6(2):333-65. doi: 10.1016/j.path.2013.03.005. Epub 2013 May 4.

Authors

Esmeralda Celia Marginean¹, Allen M Gown², Dhanpat Jain³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa University, CCW- Room 4251, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada. Electronic address: cmarginean@toh.on.ca.
² PhenoPath Laboratories, Seattle, WA 98103, USA.
³ Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8023, USA.

PMID: 26838978
DOI: 10.1016/j.path.2013.03.005

Abstract

This review provides an overview of various hepatic mass lesions and a practical diagnostic approach, including most recent immunohistochemical stains used in clinical practice. A wide variety of benign and malignant lesions present as hepatic masses, and the differential diagnosis varies. In cirrhotic liver, the commonest malignant tumor is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which needs to be differentiated from macroregenerative nodules, dysplastic nodules, and other tumors. The differential diagnosis of lesions in noncirrhotic liver in younger patients includes hepatic adenoma (HA), focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), HCC, and other primary hepatic neoplasms and metastases. In older populations, metastases remain the most common mass lesions.