Safety of hemihepatic vascular occlusion during resection of the liver

Abstract

To minimize both intraoperative bleeding and circulatory and biochemical disturbances due to the interruption of blood flow to the liver, we developed a technique for selective, mostly unilobar, control of the hilar vessels to the liver called hemihepatic vascular occlusion. One hundred and fifty-three patients who underwent hepatic resection were divided into four groups with and without cirrhosis of the liver and with and without hemihepatic vascular occlusion which was limited to 30 minutes followed by five minutes of perfusion, which was repeated if necessary. This technique reduced the intraoperative blood loss and the postoperative hyperbilirubinemia significantly but did not produce larger postoperative change of transaminases or lactic dehydrogenase serum levels when compared with similar resections without vascular control.