Intrahepatic bile duct dilatation with a liver cyst and hemangioma: report of a case.

We report a case of intrahepatic bile duct dilatation with a liver cyst and hemangioma. A 58-year-old woman was referred for investigation of a cystic lesion and peripheral intrahepatic bile duct dilatation in the left lateral segment of the liver. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed dilatation of the intrahepatic bile ducts in the left lateral segment, near a 4.5-cm cystic lesion. Early enhancement into the delayed phase was seen in the dorsal part of the cystic lesion. Celiac angiogram showed a belt-shaped hypervascular area, but no encasement or irregularity of the artery. To exclude malignancy, we performed a left lobectomy. Microscopically, the cyst was lined with a single layer of flattened epithelial cells and a spongy tumor was diagnosed as cavernous hemangioma, which compressed the bile duct. The histopathological diagnosis was biliary stenosis associated with cavernous hemangioma of the liver. Invasive surgery may be avoided by awareness of this unusual benign pathology.