Tailoring the area of hepatic resection using inflow and outflow modulation

The performance of hepatic surgery without a parenchyma-sparing strategy carries significant risks for patient survival because of the not negligible occurrence of postoperative liver failure. The key factor of modern hepatic surgery is the use of the intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS), not only to stage the disease, but more importantly to guide resection with the specific aim to maximize the sparing of the functional parenchyma. Whether in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and underlying liver cirrhosis, or in patients with colorectal liver metastasis, IOUS allows the performance of the so-called "radical but conservative surgery", which is the pivotal factor to offer a chance of cure to an increasing proportion of patients, who until few years ago were considered only for palliative care. Using some new IOUS-guided surgical maneuvers, which are based on the liver inflow and outflow modulations, more precise anatomically subsegmental- and segmental-oriented resections can be effectively performed. The present work describes the rationale and the surgical technique for a precise tailoring of the area of hepatic resection using the most recent attainments in IOUS. Such important technical achievements should be a fundamental part of the surgical armamentarium of the modern liver surgeon. (C) 2013 Baishideng. All rights reserved.