An approach for difficult hepatectomy--retrograde hepatectomy in 29 patients with liver malignant tumor

Resection remained the best treatment for malignant liver tumor. However, it is difficult to resect a tumor which is huge and tightly invaded or adhered to the surrounding organs by classical procedures because of poor exposure. The purpose of the present study was to verify that retrograde hepatectomy was an acceptable approach.

Retrograde hepatectomy means that the operative procedure is reversed as compared with classical methods. Transection of the liver parenchymal was performed first, isolating adhesions between the resected liver and diaphragm or partial phrenectomy followed, and then after cutting corresponding ligaments, the liver tumor was removed. If the adjacent organs were invaded or adhered too tightly to be separated, they were removed with the resected liver. This approach was adopted in 29 patients with liver malignancy (group A) for difficult hepatectomy from June 1994 to June 1997. In the same period, classical hepatectomy was performed in 13 patients used as a control group (group B). The differences between these two groups were analyzed.

When group A was compared with group B, the operative mortality was 0% versus 7.7% (p > 0.05), the operative time was shorter, being 175.9 +/- 49.7 min (range: 150-250 min) versus 251.9 +/- 66.9 min (range: 180-360 min) (p < 0.05), the estimated intra-operative blood loss being 1430.0 +/- 807.6 ml (600-4200 ml) versus 2907.7 +/- 1497.9 ml (800-7000 ml) (p < 0.05), and the incidence of post-operative complications was lower (p < 0.05).

Retrograde hepatectomy is an alternative method to classical hepatectomy and suitable for resection of localized huge liver tumor when the exposure is inadequate by classical approach, particularly when the tumor adheres or invades closely to the diaphragm and/or the surrounding structures.