Cancer of the Right Lobe of the Liver

Abstract

Segmental resections of the liver for cancer are made possible by the knowledge of individual anatomy available from preoperative angiography. Twelve male and six female patients ranging in age from 3 to 80 years have had resections involving the right lobe of the liver. There were six surgical deaths in the group, but five patients are living with no evidence of disease and two more patients are alive with extrahepatic metastasis. Mean survival time for the patients who recovered but later died was 27 months. If the operation is carefully chosen and the remaining liver tissue of good quality, significant palliation and some cures may be expected after liver resections for cancer. The operative mortality should not be greater than that expected for other abdominal operations of similar magnitude.