A review of portal vein embolization prior to hepatic resection

Abstract

Primary and metastatic liver cancers are increasing in incidence, and the approaches with the longest survival are resection and transplantation. Posthepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) is the leading cause of mortality following liver resection. PHLF is largely due to liver insufficiency due to the insufficient size of the future liver remnant (FLR). In this review, we will describe portal vein embolization, which is a neoadjuvant therapy used to induce hypertrophy in the FLR before resection.

Keywords: future liver remnant; liver resection; portal vein embolization; posthepatectomy liver failure.