What are the dangers of not treating hamartoma in time

Any disease should be treated in accordance with the principle of early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment. Failure to treat it in time will cause the disease to develop further, aggravate the condition, and make it very difficult to cure. For ordinary people, hamartoma is a very unfamiliar disease, so much so that many people have never heard of it. Next, I will tell you about the harm of not treating hamartoma in time.

Since the location of hamartoma growth is different, the harm is also different. Let me introduce them by category:

1. Hepatic Hamartoma

There are no symptoms in the early stage. Some children have abdominal masses at birth, which can rapidly increase in size as they grow. At this time, a mass can be felt in the right upper abdomen, which is hard and non-tender, and moves up and down with breathing. In the late stage, a huge painless abdominal mass and the resulting compression symptoms may appear. Gastrointestinal manifestations include nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, constipation, etc. The mass presses upward on the diaphragm, which can cause breathing difficulties. In severe cases, it can cause respiratory distress or heart failure, and there are symptoms such as anemia and weight loss.

2. Pulmonary Hamartoma

The age of onset is 30 to 60 years old, with slightly more males than females. Pulmonary hamartomas grow slowly and are mostly located in the periphery of the lungs. They are generally asymptomatic and are often discovered during chest X-ray fluoroscopy during health examinations. Those with symptoms often show symptoms such as cough, sputum, hemoptysis, shortness of breath, chest pain, and fever. Hamartomas in the main bronchi and lobar bronchi, especially those in the ridge area, show symptoms early, often accompanied by wheezing, and even cause severe dyspnea and cyanosis, and are misdiagnosed as asthma. Tumors located in the lobes or main bronchi cause stenosis and partial obstruction of the lumen, causing secondary infection. Patients often seek medical treatment due to acute or chronic pulmonary suppuration.

3. Renal Hamartoma

(1) The vast majority of patients with hamartomas do not have obvious symptoms.

(2) Some larger hamartomas may cause digestive discomfort due to compression of the duodenum, stomach and other organs.

(3) When a large hamartoma suddenly ruptures, the patient will experience symptoms such as lower back pain and hematuria. Patients with severe hemorrhage may feel a mass in the abdomen and may even have symptoms of shock.

(4) Extrarenal manifestations: butterfly-shaped facial sebaceous adenomas, epilepsy, intellectual impairment, etc.

4. Hypothalamic Hamartoma

(1) Specific epilepsy Gelastic epilepsy is the most characteristic clinical symptom of hypothalamic hamartoma. Gelastic epilepsy is a type of diencephalic epilepsy, characterized by paroxysmal silly laughter that lasts for a few seconds or tens of seconds and then suddenly stops. There is no loss of consciousness during the attack, and the attack may occur dozens of times a day. Gelastic laughter often begins in infants and young children, and the attacks become more frequent with age. However, gelastic epilepsy can only be diagnosed if it meets the following conditions: no external triggers, repetitive and stereotyped laughter, may be accompanied by other types of epilepsy, and EEG changes. Gelastic epilepsy is not well treated with drugs, and long-term attacks can lead to cognitive and behavioral disorders, and then develop into complex partial epilepsy, tonic epilepsy, tonic-clonic epilepsy, and secondary generalized epilepsy.

(2) Precocious puberty in girls is manifested by menarche and breast development, pubic hair growth, and a plump and pigmented vulva; boys are manifested by puberty characteristics such as penis enlargement, acne, beard, deepening voice, and muscular development. Children with precocious puberty have increased levels of LH, FSH, and estrogen or androgen, and enter puberty prematurely. Due to rapid bone development, early growth is manifested as overspeed, but development also stops early, and the potential for height development is lost, resulting in short stature. Precocious puberty may be related to the existence of independent endocrine functional units in hamartomas.

(3) Abnormal behavior includes hurting others, destroying property, irritability, aggressive behavior, anger attacks, etc.

(4) Cognitive dysfunction is manifested as hyperactivity, poor attention, delayed language development, poor learning ability, and low IQ. In addition to the fact that the disease is a congenital brain development abnormality, it is often accompanied by poor intelligence and is also related to long-term and frequent epilepsy.

(5) Visual abnormalities may occur in some cases.

5. Breast Hamartoma

Breast hamartomas are usually single round, oval or oblate masses with clear boundaries and soft texture. If surrounded by fibrous tissue, they will feel harder. According to literature reports, the size of the mass is 1 to 20 cm, with good mobility and no adhesion to the surrounding area. It grows slowly and is asymptomatic, and patients often discover it accidentally.