Hepatic resection for tumours in cirrhotic livers

A liver resection was performed in 25 out of 36 cirrhotic patients operated on for liver cell carcinomas. In the remaining 11 cases hepatectomy was not performed mainly because of the presence of other intrahepatic neoplastic nodules or thrombi in the portal branches revealed by intraoperative echography. The operative mortality in the 25 patients operated on was 16%; the actuarial survival at three years is 58%. Liver resection was carried out using a transparenchymal procedure; in 18 cases clamping of the hepatic pedicle was performed for an average period of 15 min. Twenty patients with small tumours had a segmentary or sub-segmentary resection; intraoperative echography proved indispensable in this situation, making it possible to recognize the lesion and outline the limits of the resection. The presence of a peritumoral capsule seems to have been an important prognostic factor.