[Advances, limitations and prospects of oncological liver surgery]

Modern oncological liver surgery continues to push the limits of resectability by incorporating an array of new developments in the fields of surgery, anaesthesia and intensive care, oncology, radiology and transplantation medicine. New criteria for determining the resectability of primary and secondary liver tumours have been developed and introduced into national consensus guidelines. Modern tools for improving oncological outcome include the rapid induction of liver hypertrophy prior to major liver resection, downstaging of tumours with advanced chemotherapy protocols, minimally invasive local therapies like radiofrequency ablation and chemo- or radioembolisation, and liver transplantation for non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma.