About liver resection

What is liver resection?

What is liver resection and why is it done?

Liver resection is the surgical removal of a portion of the liver. This operation is usually done to remove various types of liver tumors that are located in the resected portion of the liver. The goal of liver resection is to completely remove the tumor and the appropriate surrounding liver tissue without leaving any tumor behind.

Which patients with liver cancer undergo liver resection?

In patients with liver cancer (Hepatocellular Cancer, HCC), liver resection is limited to patients with one or two small (5 cm or less) tumors confined to the liver with no invasion of the blood vessels. As a result of these strict guidelines, in practice, very few patients with HCC can undergo liver resection. The biggest concern about resection is that following the operation, the patient can develop liver failure. The liver failure can occur if the remaining portion of the liver is inadequate (for example, because of associated cirrhosis) to provide the necessary support for life.

What is the goal of liver resection?

The goal of liver resection is to completely remove the tumor and the appropriate surrounding liver tissue without leaving any tumor behind. This option is limited to patients with one or two small (3 cm or less) tumors and excellent liver function, ideally without associated cirrhosis. As a result of these strict guidelines, in practice, very few patients with liver cancer can undergo liver resection. The biggest concern about resection is that following the operation, the patient can develop liver failure.

Can a portion of the remaining normal liver grow back?

When a portion of a normal liver is removed, the remaining liver can grow back (regenerate) to the original size within one to two weeks. A cirrhotic liver, however, cannot grow back. Therefore, before resection is performed for HCC, the non-tumor portion of the liver should be biopsied to determine whether there is associated cirrhosis.

What are the results (survival and recurrence) of liver resection?

For HCC patients whose tumors are successfully resected, the five-year survival is about 10% to 60%, depending on the tumor size. This means that 10% to 60 % of patients who actually undergo liver resection for liver cancer are expected to live five years. Many of these patients, however, will have a recurrence of liver cancer elsewhere in the liver. Moreover, it should be noted that the survival rate of untreated patients with similar sized tumors and similar liver function is probably comparable. Some studies from Europe and Japan have shown that survival rates with alcohol injection or radiofrequency ablation procedures are comparable to the survival rates of those patients who underwent resection. But again, the reader should be cautioned that there are no head-to-head comparisons of these procedures versus resection.

What are the risk factors for liver resection?

Most newborns with URA have few limitations and live normally. The outlook depends on the health of the remaining kidney and the presence of other abnormalities. To avoid injuring the remaining kidney, they may need to avoid contact sports when they’re older. Once diagnosed, patients of any age with URA need to have their blood pressure, urine, and blood tested annually to check kidney function.

BRA is typically fatal within the first few days of a newborn’s life. Newborns usually die from underdeveloped lungs shortly after birth. However, some newborns with BRA survive. They must have long-term dialysis to do the work of their missing kidneys. Dialysis is a treatment that filters and purifies the blood using a machine. This helps keep your body in balance when the kidneys can’t do their job.

Factors such as lung development and overall health determine the success of this treatment. The goal is to keep these infants alive with dialysis and other treatments until they grow strong enough to have kidney transplants.

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