Are there any benign conditions that require liver resection?
Yes. The most common are liver adenoma, which is often associated with oral contraceptives (although modern preparations are less likely to cause this), and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH). Liver cysts do not usually require resection, but only drainage. Before the use of oral contraceptives, there were almost no reports of such liver adenomas. At least 90% of cases occur in birth control users, and are more common in those on birth control pills for >10 years. Patients may have either no symptoms, or they may experience pain under the rib cage, usually on the right side, and may even feel a mass. In some women, the symptoms occur suddenly, due to development of bleeding into the tumor. In these cases, the symptoms invariably bring the patient to an emergency room, and the tumor will be seen on either a CT scan, or an ultrasound. If the bleeding does not stop, surgery is almost always necessary as an emergency life-saving measure. For those women in whom a liver adenoma is diagnosed wi
