The new treatment strategy for patients with many liver cysts was conducted by researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands.

Hepatologist de Man R.A Drenth, professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, commented: 'In Nijmegen, we had experience with the administration of synthetic gastrointestinal hormones in two polycystic liver patients.'

'This treatment resulted in significantly smaller liver cysts. This stimulated us to proceed to a randomized clinical trial in 54 polycystic liver patients from Nijmegen (The Netherlands) and Leuven (Belgium), said a Radboud University release.

These findings were reported online in Gastroenterology.