Surgical management of space-occupying lesions in the liver

There are now many types of liver resection, depending on the amount of liver to be resected and the surgical technique selected. In the field of anatomical surgery the surgeon can choose between a major or a lesser hepatectomy and between preliminary ligation of the vessels or a primary parenchymatous resection. Sound knowledge of the anatomy is a prerequisite for anatomical surgery of this organ. Although confusion has existed as a result of differences in the nomenclature of the functional anatomy of the liver, we believe that the numerical segmental description of Couinaud is the most accurate and most easily understood. Operative ultrasonography has a fundamental role in liver surgery. It supplements information obtained by intensive preoperative investigations and enables the surgeon to make more precise and limited resections than were previously possible. It provides a greater range of options in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma. The surgeon confronted with a malignant tumour of the liver should base his decision for resection on the tumour characteristics: primary or secondary, extra- or intrahepatic spread, position, histological differentiation and presence or absence of cirrhosis. Anatomical resections should be performed providing good tumour clearance margins, while preserving as much functional parenchyma as possible. Supplementary therapies such as arterial ischaemia and chemotherapy should always be considered, but it must be borne in mind that at present hepatic resection offers the only hope of cure for malignant hepatic tumours.