Recurrent bleeding from a hepatic artery aneurysm feeding a large cavernous hemangioma of the liver.

We describe a patient with an aneurysmatic dilatation of the hepatic artery feeding a giant cavernous hemangioma. The 51-years-old man presented with massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to chronic rupture of the aneurysm into the pancreatic duct. The patient died 25 days after resection of the aneurysm in liver failure and septic shock. We think that this cavernous hemangioma was responsible for a high blood flow within the hepatic artery for many years. This high blood flow caused the degenerative alterations in the wall of the artery, resulting in aneurysm formation and rupture. This is the first case mentioned in literature with rupture of a hepatic aneurysm generated by high blood flow.