Abstract

In a consecutive medicolegal necropsy series benign hepatic tumours and tumour like conditions occurred in 52% of the 95 men aged 35-69 years. The incidence increased with age, mainly due to small bile duct tumours (n = 26; mean age 56.7 years; p less than 0.01; mean size 1.3 mm). The next most common tumours were cavernous hemangiomas (n = 19; mean age 53.9 years; mean size 5.2 mm) that were not related to age. Focal nodular hyperplasia (n = 3; mean size 8.0 mm) tended to occur in a younger age group (mean age 40.3 years; p less than 0.001). Multiple bile duct tumours were present in 46% and hemangiomas in 50% of the men studied. Liver cell adenoma, nodular regenerative hyperplasia, and peliosis hepatis were incidental findings (one case of each). Nodular regenerative hyperplasia was associated with the consumption of alcohol and a total dose of 21.5 g of testosterone. These results indicate that benign hepatic tumours and tumour like conditions are not rare in men but may remain undetected because of their small size.