Benign nodular hyperplasia of the liver-pedunculated form: diagnostic contributions of ultrasonography and consideration of exophytic liver tumors

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is an asymptomatic benign liver tumor that may be detected accidentally during an abdominal ultrasound examination; it is associated with unspecific complaints, sometimes painful. Diagnosis can be precise using imaging techniques like ultrasonography. The diagnostic criteria are represented by the spatial display of the tumoral vessels and their hemodynamic characteristics. Sometimes differential diagnostic issues occur with other benign or malignant liver tumors. We present the case of a young female patient without a personal pathological history, who complained of intense, diffuse, intermittent, non-systematic abdominal pain and who underwent ultrasound examination, followed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound. With this technique, we evidenced a solid extrahepatic tumor, which was mobile at the patient's change of position and had the hemodynamic features of FNH. The article also tackles the problem of intra-abdominal pedunculated tumors.