[Medical Q&A] Can hepatic hemangioma be treated with ultrasound intervention?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Wang Yandong, Chief Physician, Tianjin University Central Hospital

Hepatic hemangioma is a common benign tumor of the liver. In most cases, patients have no symptoms and the disease is usually discovered accidentally during imaging examinations. For small hepatic hemangiomas that meet the requirements, ultrasound interventional treatment is a feasible option.

Ultrasound interventional therapy is a minimally invasive treatment method guided by real-time ultrasound. It uses a fine needle or other small instruments (no surgery required) to directly operate on the lesion. For patients with hepatic hemangioma, ultrasound interventional technology can accurately insert a fine needle into the hepatic hemangioma under ultrasound guidance, and inject a sclerosant or certain drugs into the tumor through the fine needle to destroy the vascular endothelial cells in the tumor, causing it to grow slowly and gradually shrink. In addition, ultrasound interventional therapy can also treat hepatic hemangioma through methods such as radiofrequency ablation (using high-frequency current to heat and destroy tumor tissue) and microwave ablation (using microwave energy to heat and destroy tumor tissue). Compared with traditional surgical treatment, ultrasound interventional therapy is less traumatic, the patient's recovery time is shorter, there are fewer postoperative complications, and the positioning under ultrasound guidance is more accurate, which helps to reduce the impact on surrounding normal tissues. It should be noted that hepatic hemangioma may recur after ultrasound interventional treatment, and patients need regular follow-up monitoring.