[Hepatic adenomas and oral contraceptives. Report of two cases and review of the literature (author's transl)].

The authors report two cases of benign liver tumors which were histopathologically diagnosed as liver adenomas. Both patients had a former history of taking oral contraceptives. The authors carry out a critical review of the literature up until the present day and evaluate the data which exist for and against the relationship between oral contraceptives and hepatic tumors. These are based mainly on suggestive clinical observations and on experimental studies with animals, and also on the structural affinity of oral contraceptives with androgen compounds. The latter are drugs that are very much implicated in the genesis of hepatic tumors. A criticism is made on the terminology used, from a histological point of view, to describe the tumor lesions that are related to oral contraceptives; the presence of dilated vessels with find walls and the existence of hepatic peliosis inside of such tumors are emphasized. The clinical presentation of these tumors is reviewed very briefly and the authors conclude that oral contraceptives have a close relationship with the appearance of liver tumors, either inducing them directly, or at least, helping them to grow.