Lucky MRI caught pre-cancerous liver adenoma

[Duke309]

I have been a lurker for a very long time and have read so much that I feel like I actually know quite a few of you. I talked with Fleezy about adenomas and he thought it would be a good idea for me to share my story in case it could help others.

Earlier this year I had a follow up MRI on my abdomen to track the progress of two lesions that were found by MRI previously for stomach issues from my gastroenterologist. The big concern was how much they have grown over the last two years. They did note some hepatomegaly on this latest MRI, but my AST and ALT have only been slightly elevated (usually <20 points over the high reference range and I don’t take off from training to get bloodwork). GGT has been low normal always.

Lesion 1
(1.4x1.4cm) -05/2023
(1.4x1.4cm) - 11/2023
(2.4x2.6cm) - 3/2025

Lesion 2
(1.3x1.2) - 05/2023
(not given) - 11/2023
(1.9x1.9) - 3/2025

Lesion 1 was the concerning one, the other was most likely a hepatic FNH. Last week I had a biopsy and was just given the results. The tumor was indicated to be a Beta-catenin mutated hepatocellular adenoma. This specific type of adenoma is the most likely to become cancerous. The recommended treatment for this type of adenoma in men is only removal. Follow-up should be performed according to hepatocellular carcinoma guidelines. Basically, treat this as if I do have cancer.

“They are the least common subtype of hepatic adenoma (10-15%). They occur more frequently in men and are associated with male hormone administration, glycogen storage disease, and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).”

I will admit that I have caused this to myself by using steroids for the last ~18 years. I have blasted harder the last few years with injectables, but prior to that I was no stranger to using anavar, anadrol, superdrol or dbol and low to moderate dose tren. I have been on just TRT since the mri earlier this year.

Next steps for me are to schedule microwave ablation hopefully, otherwise laparoscopic surgery. I am trying to avoid surgery if possible. This would pretty much be a repeat of the surgery to remove my gallbladder I had around 10 years ago.

Once I get my liver clear of all the growths, I think I would feel comfortable enough to go back to test + (Primo or Mast or EQ) + GH at reasonably low dosages. I'm only 37 so I still have a few more years of putting on muscle before I stick to being a shredded dad.

I got lucky with this honestly. If I didn’t have the vomiting issue (caused by tren most probably) at the time and get the first MRI, this tumor would not have been found. It never showed up on ultrasound and required contrast to be visible. I can only say that I wish I never took orals or tren especially since I don’t even compete. Leave those drugs to those that do compete and have financial incentive to use them.

 

[Gizmo]

Scary stuff. I’m glad they caught it early!

 

[thethinker48]

I'm glad it was caught even through an incidental finding

I wonder how much more commonly this will be found and discussed as the usage of PEDs has increased so much due to social media the past few years. Kids starting heavy cycles at 19-20 years old, by the time they are 30, that's a decade of androgen exposure with more cases of this being prevalent in those genetically predisposed + having elevated estradiol with heavy androgen use like tren

P.S- People like to cite clinical studies of anabolic usage as examples of safety with them being used in children or adults at higher dosages (anavar, GH) but it's never in the combinations bodybuilders use. The pathological case studies we see in bodybuilders are the combination of these drugs. Maybe in 10-20 years, we will have enough data to paint a less blurry picture

 

[Fleezy]

Get your scans guys

 

[BamaCrazy]

I’m very glad you posted this. A week ago I had a CT scan of my chest and abdomen w/contrast associated with a digestive issue I’ve been having. The CT scan detected some type of growth on my liver. They called it an indeterminate lesion and statistically represents a hemangioma which is a benign tumor. I now have an MRI scheduled to look closer at the lesion. I am hoping it’s nothing serious.

 

[Duke309]

I’m very glad you posted this. A week ago I had a CT scan of my chest and abdomen w/contrast associated with a digestive issue I’ve been having. The CT scan detected some type of growth on my liver. They called it an indeterminate lesion and statistically represents a hemangioma which is a benign tumor. I now have an MRI scheduled to look closer at the lesion. I am hoping it’s nothing serious.

You are heading down the exact path that I just followed. I didn't include it, but I had to have a nuclear medicine hemangioma scan before I could have the biopsy. They had to rule out that if it was a hemangioma since that would be a bad idea to biopsy since it is just a collection of red blood cells and can bleed. Hopefully your MRI with contrast can identify it without having to do the additional tests.

 

[lm89]

You’ve had abdomen ultrasounds done previously that didn’t show any issues?

 

[Duke309]

You’ve had abdomen ultrasounds done previously that didn’t show any issues?

They tried to use ultrasound during the biopsy after the first CT scan to go in from another spot. It didn't show up on the ultrasound so they had to CT with contrast again to do the second entry for biopsy. The biopsy hurt pretty bad even with the fentanyl they gave me. They had to hit me with dilaudid after they were done to let me rest for a while.

 

[Bio]

Thanks for sharing! Experiences like this give insight and are very helpful.

 

[Fleezy]

My ultrasound showed my beta catenin adenoma.. weird


Didn’t show that it was an adenoma conclusively, but that something was there that was either cancer, or an atypical hemangioma - which was followed up with more testing

 

[booey]

Thanks for sharing. Can you elaborate a bit more on the stomach issues that prompted you to get the first MRI? How frequently were you vomiting?

 

[b-boy]

I have been a lurker for a very long time and have read so much that I feel like I actually know quite a few of you. I talked with Fleezy about adenomas and he thought it would be a good idea for me to share my story in case it could help others.

Earlier this year I had a follow up MRI on my abdomen to track the progress of two lesions that were found by MRI previously for stomach issues from my gastroenterologist. The big concern was how much they have grown over the last two years. They did note some hepatomegaly on this latest MRI, but my AST and ALT have only been slightly elevated (usually <20 points over the high reference range and I don’t take off from training to get bloodwork). GGT has been low normal always.

Lesion 1
(1.4x1.4cm) -05/2023
(1.4x1.4cm) - 11/2023
(2.4x2.6cm) - 3/2025

Lesion 2
(1.3x1.2) - 05/2023
(not given) - 11/2023
(1.9x1.9) - 3/2025

Lesion 1 was the concerning one, the other was most likely a hepatic FNH. Last week I had a biopsy and was just given the results. The tumor was indicated to be a Beta-catenin mutated hepatocellular adenoma. This specific type of adenoma is the most likely to become cancerous. The recommended treatment for this type of adenoma in men is only removal. Follow-up should be performed according to hepatocellular carcinoma guidelines. Basically, treat this as if I do have cancer.

“They are the least common subtype of hepatic adenoma (10-15%). They occur more frequently in men and are associated with male hormone administration, glycogen storage disease, and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).”

I will admit that I have caused this to myself by using steroids for the last ~18 years. I have blasted harder the last few years with injectables, but prior to that I was no stranger to using anavar, anadrol, superdrol or dbol and low to moderate dose tren. I have been on just TRT since the mri earlier this year.

Next steps for me are to schedule microwave ablation hopefully, otherwise laparoscopic surgery. I am trying to avoid surgery if possible. This would pretty much be a repeat of the surgery to remove my gallbladder I had around 10 years ago.

Once I get my liver clear of all the growths, I think I would feel comfortable enough to go back to test + (Primo or Mast or EQ) + GH at reasonably low dosages. I'm only 37 so I still have a few more years of putting on muscle before I stick to being a shredded dad.

I got lucky with this honestly. If I didn’t have the vomiting issue (caused by tren most probably) at the time and get the first MRI, this tumor would not have been found. It never showed up on ultrasound and required contrast to be visible. I can only say that I wish I never took orals or tren especially since I don’t even compete. Leave those drugs to those that do compete and have financial incentive to use them.

What is glycogen storage disease?

 

[b-boy]

What is glycogen storage disease?

A genetic enzyme deficiency

 

[cage99]

Fortunate you sought out medical help and discovered this issue. Hope everything works out for you and you continue onward!

Cage

 

[Crazy_jay]

Curious what your ai usage was like?

 

[Duke309]

Thanks for sharing. Can you elaborate a bit more on the stomach issues that prompted you to get the first MRI? How frequently were you vomiting?

Every couple weeks or so I would get super nauseous, usually early in the morning. With an hour or two I would start vomiting every 20 minutes for 2-3 hours. After the inital vomit it would just be yellow bile and it is those really really deep feeling muscle contractions to vomit that feel terrible.

The frequency would change and I finally correlated it to tren usage (worst offender, even very low dose) and/or oral usage. Hasn't happened again since I've dropped those compounds.

 

[Duke309]

Curious what your ai usage was like?

I am pretty sensitive to gyno even though I am not a very strong aromatizer. I pretty much always kept my e2 in the normal range either through DHT usage or EQ usage. I'm not very happy that the turn around on the e2 sensitive test from Quest is now ~11-14 days.

 

[Siggy]

My ultrasound showed my beta catenin adenoma.. weird


Didn’t show that it was an adenoma conclusively, but that something was there that was either cancer, or an atypical hemangioma - which was followed up with more testing

Yea, some things wont show up on ultrasound however each modality has its strengths and weaknesses. CT and MRI are generally better at spotting masses, however ultrasound is better at differentiating some types of masses over CT, possibly MRI as well. Really, you need both Ultrasound and either CT or MRI for the best results and you do end up getting both most of the time in this scenario.

Ultrasounds other strengths : It doesnt require injecting potentially toxic contrast, it doesnt involve x radiation and its a lot cheaper than the other two.

 

[Siggy]

What was your oral steroid usage like? How many milligrams and how long were the cycles? Approximate guesstimate of oral cycles you have done all time?

 

[Duke309]

What was your oral steroid usage like? How many milligrams and how long were the cycles? Approximate guesstimate of oral cycles you have done all time?

Early on in my gear usage I would run an oral 4-6 weeks at a time, multiple times per year. Only anavar would get run for more than 4 weeks. I've used dbol, var, drol, superdrol (oral and injectable), mtren, epistane (oral and injectable), tbol, winny, and even LGD.

dbol (usually 20mg per day, have run up to 50mg for short periods)
var (usually 50-100mg per day)
drol (usually 50-75 per day, very rarely above that)
superdrol (oral up to 20mg and injectable up to 15mg)
mtren (up to 1mg per day very short periods, 100mcg-200mcg for a week or two)
epistane (oral up to 100mg and injectable up to 80mg)
tbol (up to 100mg per day)
winny (up to 100mg per day, didn't use much)
LGD (5mg per day)

The last 5 years I stuck with just anavar and anadrol at various points. I would typically make it 2 weeks on drol before having to drop it and 3-4 weeks on var. 10+ years ago I would run them for the full periods and typically do one cycle then take a break twice the length of the on oral period.