[Surgical management of polycystic liver]

Three patients with polycystic liver disease, needing surgical treatment, are reported. In two cases surgical indication was continuous pain and compressive symptoms from an abdominal mass, and in the third case was an infection of the cyst. All patients were treated by fenestration combined with resection of cysts. The postoperative course was uneventful in two patients, but hepatic failure developed in the third case, needing hepatic transplantation. This patient died during this operation. The complications of the disease and its surgical management are revised.