Liver Resection
Tse-Ling Fong, MD
Dr. Fong is the Medical Director of the USC Liver Transplant Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Southern California and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and the subspecialty of Gastroenterology.
What is liver resection and why is it done?
Liver resection is the surgical removal of a portion of the liver. This operation is usually done to remove various types of liver tumors that are located in the resected portion of the liver. The goal of liver resection is to completely remove the tumor and the appropriate surrounding liver tissue without leaving any tumor behind.
Which patients with liver cancer undergo liver resection?
In patients with liver cancer (Hepatocellular Cancer, HCC), this treatment option, liver resection, is limited to patients with one or two small (5 cm or less) and confined to the liver with no invasion of the blood vessels. As a result of these strict guidelines, in practice, very few patients with HCC can undergo liver resection. The biggest concern about resection is that following the operation, the patient can develop liver failure. The liver failure can occur if the remaining portion of the liver is inadequate (for example, because of associated cirrhosis) to provide the necessary support for life. Even in carefully selected patients, about 10% of them are expected to die shortly after surgery, usually as a result of liver failure.
http://www.medicinenet.com/liver_resection/article.htm
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