Mixed reality combined with ALPPS for colorectal liver metastases, a case report

Improvement of treatments for patients suffering from colorectal carcinoma and extended liver metastases has increased the overall survival and enables more patients to undergo surgical therapy. If the future liver remnant (FLR) is expected to be low, Associating Liver Partition and Portal Vein Ligation for Staged Hepatectomy (ALPPS) is a potential treatment with high feasibility and an increase in overall survival. The evolving mixed reality technology could support hepatobiliary surgery. This case report demonstrates for the first time the combination of mixed reality technology and ALPPS procedure for a patient with low expected FLR.

A 49-year-old patient is presented with adenocarcinoma of the caecum with bilateral liver metastasis. After colon resection, a palliative chemotherapy was administered with good response and partial remission, so curative liver resection was intended. Based on the low expected FLR, calculated from the 3D-model of the liver, we decided to perform an in-situ split resection supported by mixed reality intraoperatively. The total operation time was 6 + 2 h. During both steps no blood transfusion was required and no major complication occurred. The patient was discharged 15 days after the second step. Final pathology revealed multiple predominantly necrotic metastases of the pre-existing colon carcinoma (ypM1, R0).

After the first step of ALPPS, an increase of the FLR up to 57 % was achieved, so the second step was performed on postoperative day (POD)11. The 3D-model and the intraoperative use of mixed reality supported our decision making and intraoperative navigation. This technique could be implemented on a larger scale to support complex liver resections.

The combination of mixed reality with ALPPS resulted in a good surgical outcome and should be considered as a potential alternative for liver resections.