[Is ischemia of the liver, lasting longer than an hour, a severity factor in hepatectomies? Apropos of 19 cases].
Nineteen hepatic resections with continuous liver ischemia exceeding one hour (60 to 85 min, m = 68 +/- 8 min) are reported. Surgery was undertaken for 15 malignant tumors, mainly metastatic, and 4 benign tumors. In 16 out of 19 cases, a major hepatic resection was necessary to remove massive and central lesions. Vascular clamping was a Pringle maneuver (9 cases), associated with inferior vena cava clamping-complete hepatic vascular exclusion (10 cases). 2050 +/- 2000 ml of packed red cells were infused peroperatively. No operative nor hospital mortality was recorded. Major complications developed in 6 patients: 3 intraperitoneal haemorrhages leading to complementary hemostasis of the raw surface of the liver in the first 24 hours, 1 erosive gastritis, 2 subphrenic abscesses treated by percutaneous drainage. Severe liver failure developed after left trisegmentectomy on a steatotic liver and led to emergency transplantation on the 17th day with success. Except this case, biochemical liver tests demonstrated slight and transitory alteration. Magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the rapidity of the regenerative process and liver biopsies at 6 and 12 months did not show any late changes. There is no relation between the duration of liver ischemia in the limits of this study and post operative morbidity rate, which is more influenced by the magnitude of the resection and the quality of the liver remnant.