Laparoscopic excision of a ciliated hepatic foregut cyst in a child: A case report and review of the literature

Introduction: Ciliated hepatic foregut cysts (CHFC) are rare congenital hepatic lesions derived from the embryonic foregut. Because of potential transformation to squamous cell carcinoma in adulthood, the mainstay of therapy is surgical resection. To our knowledge, we report the first case of CHFC in a child that was successfully excised laparoscopically.

Presentation of case: We report a case of a 4-year-old boy that was diagnosed with an asymptomatic 5-cm liver cyst. After surveillance for 3 years, the cyst grew to 7 cm at which time it was successfully resected laparoscopically. The pathology was consistent with CHFC.

Discussion: There have been few previous reports of CHFCs in children, all of which described excision via a laparotomy. This is the first case report of laparoscopic resection of CHFC in a child.

Conclusion: This case report suggests that laparoscopy may be safe and effective for resection of CHFCs with favorable anatomy such as peripheral location and noninvolvement of key vascular and biliary structures.