[The surgical therapy of liver trauma]

The different therapeutic patterns of liver trauma are presented; they should be chosen on the basis of both clinical assessment, particularly looking for hemodynamic impairment and associated bowel lesions, and CT scan data. Surgical abstention should be considered for a great number of blunt liver trauma; open or severe blunt trauma should be preferably treated by elective hemostasis and biliostasis, with only rare use of hepatic resection "à la demande", on partially sectioned or devitalized tissues. Cavo-suprahepatic wounds remain the most important technical problem and continue to worse the prognosis in liver trauma.