Liver surgery: a long journey to improve results

25th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists, Fuzhou, China, 4-6 September 2015 Fuzhou, China hosted the 25th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists (IASGO). This was the first Congress after the passing away of Nicolas J Lygidakis, the founder of the International Association, who was a surgeon and an energetic secretary general of the association for 25 years. All members of the association are grateful for his message of medicine beyond the frontiers and health for all. The president of the association remains Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, Emeritus Professor Of Surgery at The University of Tokyo (Japan), with Professor Dan Dunda from Harvard Medical School (MA, USA) and Professor Kyoichi Takaori from Kyoto University (Japan), as the secretaries general of the association. The President of the 2015 IASGO World Congress was Professor Yupei Zhao, Professor of Surgery at the University of Beijing and President of the Chinese Society of Surgery. The Congress was held under the auspices of IASGO president Masatoshi Makuuchi from Japan and both secretaries general. Fuzhou is a pleasant city that is well organized, but not as busy compared with other Chinese cities. All of the city's people were very kind and welcoming to the attendees at the meeting. The congress focuses on the major advancements in diagnosis and treatment of the gastroenterological diseases, here we report the most important progress in the field of hepatic surgery.