BACKGROUND: Benign liver tumors, due to its relative easeness its imaging identification, have their incidence increasing in population in recent years, becoming frequent in the clinical picture and often a challenge for clinicians and surgeons. Doctors began to face dilemmas related to diagnosis in asymptomatic patients with liver nodules. AIM: Update the knowledge of hepatic adenomas due to the crescent diagnosis seen in the recent years. METHODS: Was performed a literature review consulting Medline/PubMed, SciELO, Embase, Lilacs database with the following descriptors: hepatic adenoma, surgery, medical treatment, diagnosis, pathophysiology and molecular biology. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of incidental asymptomatic lesions is a major dilemma in clinical practice because it brings intense distress for patients and their families, and often become a challenge for the physician or surgeon. Injury is of particular interest because it can provide both benign evolution or potentially lethal complications. Recently, its resection is no more mandatory; currently, more individualized treatment are required, aiming less morbidity. In light of new advances in molecular biology, the physician who diagnoses the lesion must identify the potential unfavorable evolution, and recognize cases who need more aggressive medical management.
Hepatic adenoma; Surgery; Clinical treatment; Diagnosis; Pathophysiology; Molecular biology