Associating Liver Partition and Portal vein ligation for Staged hepatectomy after pre-operative chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND

Recently a procedure termed 'Associating Liver Partition and Portal vein ligation for Staged hepatectomy' (ALPPS) was developed to increase the resectability of marginally resectable or locally unresectable liver tumours. This study focused on the application of ALPPS in patients with advanced colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) and pre-operative chemotherapy, with the aim to investigate whether the latter still allows for sufficient hypertrophy of the future liver remnant (FLR) following the first step of ALPPS.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis was performed on six patients suffering from advanced CRLM. Analyses comprised demographical and basic clinical data, the perioperative courses as well as short- and long-term outcomes.

RESULTS

All patients presented with bilobular CRLM and pre-operative chemotherapy of at least 6 months. Extended right hemihepatectomy was performed in all cases, four patients additionally received atypical resections in segments II/III. Mean FLR prior to step 1 of ALPPS was 397.9 cm (121-753 cm ), on average representing 20.9% of the total liver volume (13.2-27.1%). A mean hypertrophy of the FLR of 67.9% (32.5-94.1%) was achieved. Overall, severe morbidity (Dindo Clavien >3a) occurred in two patients. Following completion of ALPPS, mean post-operative disease-free survival was 5.7 months (2.6-8.9 months).

CONCLUSION

Despite pre-operative chemotherapy, ALPPS seems to result in adequate liver hypertrophy, preventing post-operative small-for-size syndrome. However, there might be a high risk of tumour recurrence in patients with an aggressive tumour biology.