The occurrence of asymptomatic and symptomatic simple hepatic cysts. A prospective, hospital-based study

To examine the prevalence of asymptomatic and symptomatic liver cysts in a university hospital patient population using modern US equipment. Abdominal US scans of 1541 cases referred during the period 21 January to 11 November 2000 were examined for hepatic cysts. Of 1541 cases, 174 (11.3%) were found to have hepatic cysts, i.e. 109 female (12.5%) and 65 (9.7%) male patients (9.7%). In 413 individuals younger than 40 years, no cysts were found. Above the age of 40 years, prevalence increased with age. By using modern US equipment, we found a higher prevalence of hepatic cysts than that reported in previous studies. Patient selection and the prevalence of liver cysts in the population from which the patients were referred may have influenced our results.