Secondary surgery for liver trauma

Over a 10-year period from 1980, 46 patients with liver injuries were referred after primary admission to other hospitals. Previous surgery had been performed in 40 cases and the predominant reasons for referral were uncontrollable bleeding and postoperative sepsis with biliary leakage. Of 30 such cases, 19 were treated by liver resection; all were of a limited nature and no major hepatectomies were performed. Only two deaths occurred in these patients and this low mortality rate supports our conservative approach to liver trauma. Other reasons for referral were late biliary stenosis, complicated penetrating injury and intrahepatic haematoma. Three cases were referred with postoperative hepatic failure; two responded to resection of infected necrotic tissue and liver transplantation was attempted in the third. Injuries to liver segments 6 and 7 were those most frequently referred for assistance with bleeding, and all patients were safely transferred after intra-abdominal packing. This injury is particularly suitable for resection by segmentectomy rather than a formal hepatectomy, which has been associated with a high mortality rate in trauma cases. Further patients with intractable injuries might be salvaged by liver transplantation.