How often are liver lesions generally malignant?

Approximately 19 percent of liver lesions are malignant. Both malignant and benign liver lesions often go undiscovered until the late stages. Additionally, tests have to be done in order to diagnose the disease.

Malignant liver lesions can ether be primary or metastatic. Primary liver cancers originate in the liver while metastatic cancers starts in another organ like the stomach or large intestines and spread (metastasize) to the liver. There are two types of primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma. HCC can go undetected for very long periods because it does not show any symptoms in the early stages.