BACKGROUND: A sclerosed hemangioma of the liver, an extremely rare type of benign hepatic tumor, was found at autopsy.

CASE REPORT: An 81-year-old Japanese man was admitted to our hospital for surgical resection of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in his left forearm. At admission, serological tests for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C antibody were negative with no evidence of cirrhosis. At 2, 3, and 5 months after the removal of the forearm tumor, skin grafting was performed because of unhealed skin ulceration. Although anti-bacterial drugs were prescribed, the patient died after the 3rd skin graft (5 months after the surgery) because of pneumonia. During the treatment course, the patient was diagnosed as having multiple liver masses suspected to be cysts of the liver based on non-contrasted computed tomography results. Autopsy revealed a sclerosed hemangioma occupying the entire left lobe accompanied by multiple small cavernous hemangiomas in the right lobe of the liver.

CONCLUSIONS: Sclerosed hemangioma, a rare benign disease, occurred in association with degeneration and sclerosis of cavernous hemangiomas of the liver. The VEGF pathway may be involved in the genesis of cavernous and sclerosed hemangioma of the liver.

Keywords: Hemangioma, Cavernous - surgery, Diagnosis, Differential, Biopsy, Aged, 80 and over, Hepatectomy - methods, Liver Neoplasms - surgery, Tomography, X-Ray Computed