Recent advances in estimating hepatic functional reserve in patients with chronic liver damage

Preoperative estimation of liver functional reserve is important in liver surgery to prevent postoperative liver failure. Although the hepatic functional reserve of patients with chronic liver disease is generally evaluated by measuring indocyanine green dye retention at 15 min, no standard method of estimating regional liver function has been established to date. Several recently introduced imaging modalities, such as hepatobiliary scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid, may be used to evaluate liver function. Here, we review recent advances in estimating hepatic functional reserve, mainly by radiological modalities, in patients with chronic liver damage.