Hepatic bruits in malignant liver tumors.

There have been few reports concerning hepatic bruits in malignant liver tumors, especially in those other than hepatocellular carcinoma. Lately we noticed hepatic bruits in several cases of malignant liver tumors. The murmurs were confirmed by sound recordings. In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma the murmurs were continuous or continuous with late systolic accentuation. In a case of cholangiocarcinoma of the liver the murmur was continuous with late systolic accentuation and in a case of metastatic liver carcinoma it was systolic. These murmurs were considered to be caused by various mechanisms and some of them are discussed in this paper. Hepatic bruits would be a useful aid in diagnosing hepatic tumors.