Biliary leakage might promote liver regeneration following hepatectomy

The biliary leakage is a common and even lethal postoperative complication to the patients after hepatectomy. However, we found that the patients who underwent this lethal postoperative complication could potentially acquire a faster restoration of remnant liver volume comparing with those without postoperative biliary leakage. We surmise that inflammatory response induced by biliary leakage after partial hepatectomy may be the one of reasons for this phenomenon. Abnormal levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and STAT3 caused by biliary leakage may be a main reason for fast liver regeneration. On the other hand, we hypothesize that biliary leakage may promote liver regeneration by activating the immune system after partial hepatectomy. Our hypothesis might provide a novel therapeutic strategy for patients who underwent liver failure after partial hepatectomy. For instance, the exogenous infection or controlling biliary leakage may be reasonable and deserve further study. With the aid of animal model of postoperative biliary leakage or intraabdominal bacterial infections, this hypothesis could be partially or fully confirmed.