[What's new in liver surgery in the year 2000?]

More than half a century ago, Ton That Tung, then Lortat-Jacob performed the first anatomic hepatectomies, marking the onset of the conquest of liver surgery. Shortly thereafter, a few pioneers took the leap, making the first attempts at total hepatectomy and liver transplantation. Within years, considerable progress was made in hepatobiliary surgery which rapidly became a full-fledged surgery specialty. Techniques were equally improved with new advances in imaging and technology. The last 15 years have been so rich at in the strict sense of the word, little is new in liver surgery in 2000. What has changed is the general perception that liver surgery is entering a new era in the third millennium: high-tech surgery, a surgery that is safe, self-confident, yet aggressive and ambitious, a surgery that is perfectly integrated into increasingly sophisticated and comprehensive therapeutic schemes.