Bilateral lobectomy excluding the caudate lobe for giant mesenchymal hamartoma of the liver.

A girl underwent partial resection of the liver for mesenchymal hamartoma twice, at 7 months and again at 3 years of age. When the patient was 16 years of age, the mass increased rapidly in size. The patient was hospitalized and studied by ultrasonography, computed tomographic scans, and arterial angiography. The tumor occupied the right and left lobes of the liver, but the hypertrophic caudate lobe in which no tumor was found could provide satisfactory liver function, so the tumor was extirpated by bilateral lobectomy, with preservation of the caudate lobe. Histologic examination of the operative specimen led to the diagnosis of typical mesenchymal hamartoma of the liver. Malignancy was not found. About 30 cases of this disorder have been reported in Japan, and about 100 cases have appeared in the literature in English. To the best of our knowledge, no earlier reports of bilateral lobectomy have been made.