Prevention of Liver Failure in Extended Hepatic Resection

Background. Postoperative failure is a major cause of adverse outcomes in extensive liver resection. Post-resection liver failure requires intensive, including extracorporeal, care. Issues in correcting liver failure warrant novel approaches to prevent severe cases.Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of 228 various-extent liver resections included minor (55.7 %), major (26.8 %) and extended (17.5 %) operations for malignant, benign and parasitic liver lesions. The post-resection liver failure rate has ben graded according to ISGLS.Results and discussion. Postoperative hepatic failure developed in 58 (25.4 %) cases, including 5 of 127 minor (3.9 %) resections, 18 major (29.5 %) and 35 of 40 extended resections (87.5 %). Mild class A liver failures were reported in 12.3 %, and severe classes B and C — in 9.2 % and 3.9 % cases, respectively.CT volumetry in place of the number of resected segments is suggested as a criterion to grade the expected post-resection residual liver, with >70 % defining a minor, 36–70 % — major and 25–35 % — extended expected residual liver.A two-staged extended hepatic resection approach is proposed to reduce postoperative liver failure, with vascular radiology-guided right portal vein embolisation (RPVE) or associating liver partition and portal vein ligation (ALPPS) at stage 1.A comparison of extended hepatic resection outcomes (n = 40) showed a significantly higher rate and severity of liver failure in single- vs. two-staged operations (p < 0.05).Conclusion. Liver failure is a leading cause of death in major and extended hepatic resection. Preoperative CT volumetry allows a more accurate volumetric control of expected post-resection residual liver. Two-staged extended hepatic resection can reliably reduce the rate and severity of postoperative liver failure.

Major Hepatic Resection Following Portal Vein Embolisation: Indications, Technique and Peri-Operative Outcome

Major liver resections are limited by the volume of future liver (FLR) remnant with the risk of subjecting patient to post surgery liver failure. This increases morbidity and mortality of the patients. However, the technique of ipsilateral portal vein embolisation (PVE) has given surgeons extra mileage to consider major liver resections previously thought to be unresectable. Al cases should be discussed in a multidisciplinary setting. A good knowledge of portal anatomy and variations should be known as part of selection procedure for PVE. Base liver functional status should be reviewed before consideration given to PVE. CT volumetry assessment should be made before and after PVE to assess for resectability. Multiple embolic materials are used in current practice, but none have shown superiority. Several complications are related to application of PVE, however it is generally regarded a safe procedure. Atleast four weeks are required to assess for FLR with repeat abdominal cross-sectional imaging. Patients with normal liver function tests achieve maximum hypertrophy in four weeks versus patients with underlying liver disease. Liver surgery is scheduled upto 2 to 6 weeks following embolisation. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of current indications, technique, complications and outcomes following PVE.

Rapid Induction of Liver Regeneration for Major Hepatectomy (REBIRTH): A Randomized Controlled Trial of Portal Vein Embolisation versus ALPPS Assisted with Radiofrequency

To avoid liver insufficiency following major hepatic resection, portal vein embolisation (PVE) is used to induce liver hypertrophy pre-operatively. Associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy assisted with radiofrequency (RALPPS) was introduced as an alternative method. A randomized controlled trial comparing PVE with RALPPS for the pre-operative manipulation of liver volume in patients with a future liver remnant volume (FLRV) ≤25% (or ≤35% if receiving preoperative chemotherapy) was conducted. The primary endpoint was increase in size of the FLRV. The secondary endpoints were length of time taken for the volume gain, morbidity, operation length and post-operative liver function. Between July 2015 and October 2017, 57 patients were randomised to RALPPS (n = 29) and PVE (n = 28). The mean percentage of increase in the FLRV was 80.7 ± 13.7% after a median 20 days following RALPPS compared to 18.4 ± 9.8% after 35 days (p < 0.001) following PVE. Twenty-four patients after RALPPS and 21 after PVE underwent stage-2 operation. Final resection was achieved in 92.3% and 66.6% patients in RALPPS and PVE, respectively (p = 0.007). There was no difference in morbidity, and one 30-day mortality after RALPPS (p = 0.991) was reported. RALPPS is more effective than PVE in increasing FLRV and the number of patients for surgical resection.