Liver Resection

A liver resection surgically removes a portion of the liver, usually to remove tumors.

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.

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.

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. 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.

When a portion of a normal liver is removed, the remaining liver can grow back (regenerate) to the original size within several 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.

For HCC patients whose tumors are successfully resected, the five-year survival is about 10% to 60%, depending on the tumor size and type. 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.