The authors report their experience about 31 patients (30 women and 1 man, mean age 45,7 years) opered for a benign hepatic tumor between 1984 and 1993. There were 12 focal nodular hyperplasia, 9 simple hepatic cysts, 8 hemangioma and 1 hepatic adenoma. All but one (a cyst) tumors were completely resected. The reasons of indications for surgery (which is contraversial) are then discussed, most of them being based on doubts concerning correct identification of the tumor (despite a modern assessment by imaging) or symptoms or risks of the tumor.