Immunological Evaluation of Surgical Stress in Liver Resections

Surgery has its origins in caring for patients suffering from injury or infection. In the last decade, a huge amount of published data has been describing a wide range of conditions resulting from trauma or infection, from minor, local reactions to a surgical operation and leading to a systemic stress response, systemic inflammatory response and finally to multiple organ failure. Our aim was to highlight the main immunological aspects of liver resections. There are many types of liver resections, ranging from small, isolated resections for benign diseases (e.g., small cysts or angyoma) to segmentectomies, bi- or trisegmentectomies to hepatectomies in the end. Patients undergoing such resections are subjected to a large amount of surgical stress and in some cases, postoperative complications ranging from light to severe. The main links between immunology and liver resections is surgical stress that can be evaluated through various immunological methods, which will be presented in this article.