What Is Critical for Liver Surgery and Partial Liver Transplantation: Size or Quality?

Major liver resections and partial orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) have become established procedures in liver surgery; for many patients, these techniques offer the only curative option.1 Yet, many patients develop postoperative complications because the remnant livers or grafts are too small or of poor quality to sustain sufficient organ function. This somewhat new and poorly defined phenomenon has been termed "small-for-size syndrome" (SFSS) to describe this scenario. The concept is, in fact, not a new one, because as early as the 1970s, Thomas E. Starzl described the complicated postoperative course of a young woman subjected to an almost 90% hepatectomy and who was subsequently characterized by prolonged hyperbilirubinemia, encephalopathy, and coagulopathy.2 In an unconventional way for a review, we will start with three case reports to illustrate the scope and clinical relevance of SFSS after liver surgery and transplantation. Copyright © 2010 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.