Question:
I have
had pain in my right side starting slowly a year ago and increasing
more in DISCOMFORT for a year. I had an ultra sound and my Dr. found
a small lesion in my liver.
So I
had a cat scan and still it is a liver lesion. I will be having an
MRI soon. But my discomfort in my side, under the base of my ribs
remains. (It feels like something stuffed under my ribs and it also
feels like it expands or moves.
I have
been feeling natious and sometimes sick to my stomach.
Could
that be a problem of my liver? Can you actually feel your liver? Could
a lesion cause that? Or does it sound like it could be something else?
Please help.
Tammy
Answer:
Dear
Tammy,
Cystic
lesions of the liver are easily identified by ultrasonography.
Cystic
lesions of the liver in the adult can be classified as developmental,
neoplastic, inflammatory, or miscellaneous.
Although
in some cases it is difficult to distinguish these entities with imaging
criteria alone, certain cystic focal liver lesions have classic computed
tomographic (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features, which
are important for the radiologist to understand and recognize.
Lesions
with such features include simple (bile duct) cyst, autosomal dominant
polycystic liver disease, biliary hamartoma, Caroli disease, undifferentiated
(embryonal) sarcoma, biliary cystadenoma and cystadenocarcinoma, cystic
subtypes of primary liver neoplasms, cystic metastases, pyogenic and
amebic abscesses, intrahepatic hydatid cyst, extrapancreatic pseudocyst,
and intrahepatic hematoma and biloma.
Tumors
of the liver may be cystic or solid, benign or malignant.
Most
are asymptomatic, with patients having normal liver function, and
they are increasingly discovered incidentally during ultrasonography
or computed tomography.
Although
most tumors are benign and require no treatment, it is important for
non-specialists to be able to identify lesions that require further
investigation and thus avoid unnecessary biopsy.
Modern imaging combined with recent technical advances in liver surgery
can now offer many patients safe and potentially curative resections
for malignant, as well as benign, conditions affecting the liver.
Hepatic
hemangioma are the most common benign liver lesions . In one study,
72 percent of people who were referred for liver lesions turned out
to be hemangiomas. The prevlance of hemangiomas
range from 0.4 to 20 percent in the general population.
Any pain
your liver may be causing would most likely be generic to you if you’re
not familiar with where your liver is located to begin with. A damaged
or diseased liver can produce pain
