Benign hepatic lesions and orally administered contraceptives. A report of seven cases and a critical analysis of the literature.

A consecutive series of 12 benign hepatic lesions in women consisted of six cases of focal nodular hyperplasia and six cases of liver cell adenoma. Five of the six women with liver cell adenoma and two of the six with focal nodular hyperplasia had taken orally active contraceptive hormones. These few cases reflect a similar impression gained from a critical analysis of the literature, namely, that focal nodular hyperplasia may be unrelated to the oral administration of contraceptive hormones, whereas the increase in liver cell adenoma reported in recent years is probably related to such therapy. Two women with liver cell adenomas were asymptomatic six and four years after incomplete resection of the tumor. These are the longest intervals thus far reported for uncomplicated survival in incompletely resected liver cell adenoma.