Indications for liver resection

Indications for partial liver resection can be benign or malignant diseases of the liver. Benign diseases include, for example, encapsulated purulent inflammation (liver abscesses) or infection with the dog tapeworm (Echinococcus cysts). Among the malignant diseases for which partial resection of the liver is indicated, liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma = HCC) is the most common.

If the disease is diagnosed in time or if the patient’s concomitant circumstances permit, surgical removal of the tumor can at best result in a cure. A further indication for partial liver resection is when another tumor, such as colon cancer, has spread to the liver and the metastases can be removed by surgery. The decision on how a tumor disease of the liver is or can be treated depends on the size of the findings.

There are many different ways to cure liver cancer, the most common type of liver tumor, but hepatocellular carcinoma responds poorly to chemotherapy. Therefore, the surgical approach is usually followed. A partial resection of the liver can only be performed if the remaining part of the liver is still functional, i.e. if there is no liver cirrhosis.

This is rarely the case. If the tumor can be removed without having to transplant a new liver, it is important that the tumor is removed completely. To ensure this, not only the tumor but also part of the surrounding healthy tissue should be removed so that no new tumors can grow.

Metastases are not tumors in themselves. If metastases occur in the liver, they would not be called liver tumors.These are tumor cells from tumors of other organs, which were transported to the liver via the bloodstream and there grew into so-called metastases. The patients most frequently affected by liver metastases are those with colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer and esophageal cancer.

They occur in advanced stages of tumor diseases. Chemotherapy can initially prevent the cancer cells from spreading from the original tumor throughout the body. For local therapy of metastases in the liver from other organs, liver resection is usually the therapy of choice. A combination of systemic therapy (chemotherapy) and local liver resection is often used.