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A young woman taking contraceptive hormone treatment for many years developed a hepatocytic adenoma discovered after a massive hemorrhage into the tumor. The patient recovered after a hepatectomy. A total of 160 such cases have been reported in the published literature, and recovery occurred after excision of the lesion in the majority of cases. Stopping the oestrogen-progestogen therapy seems to avoid recurrence but it is still not known whether this is sufficient to produce regression of a benign tumoral lesion.

During their observations of 6 new cases of benign liver tunors, the authors review the terminology commonly used to describe such lesions. These tumors belong to 2 different morphological varieties, nodular focal hyperplasia, and liver cell carcinoma. The exact role of estroprogestational agents in the appearance of benign liver neoplasms is still discussed, since such tumors have been described outside of oral contraception, before the existence of oral contraception, and also in men and children. However, statistical studies show that their incidence augments in women on oral contraception; that, possibly, estrogen only is the cause of hepatic lesions, and that duration of treatment does not influence the appearance of such lesions. Benign hyperplasic and benign adenomas are very susceptible of evolution toward malignant tumoral forms.