BACKGROUND

Post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) is the Achilles' heel of hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastases. The most commonly used procedure to generate hypertrophy of the functional liver remnant (FLR) is portal vein embolization (PVE), which does not always lead to successful hypertrophy. Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) has been proposed to overcome the limitations of PVE. Liver venous deprivation (LVD), a technique that includes simultaneous portal and hepatic vein embolization, has also been proposed as an alternative to ALPPS. The present study aimed to conduct a systematic review as the first network meta-analysis to compare the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of the three regenerative techniques.

DATA SOURCES

A systematic search for literature was conducted using the electronic databases Embase, PubMed (MEDLINE), Google Scholar and Cochrane.

RESULTS

The time to operation was significantly shorter in the ALPPS cohort than in the PVE and LVD cohorts by 27 and 22 days, respectively. Intraoperative parameters of blood loss and the Pringle maneuver demonstrated non-significant differences between the PVE and LVD cohorts. There was evidence of a significantly higher FLR hypertrophy rate in the ALPPS cohort when compared to the PVE cohort, but non-significant differences were observed when compared to the LVD cohort. Notably, the LVD cohort demonstrated a significantly better FLR/body weight (BW) ratio compared to both the ALPPS and PVE cohorts. Both the PVE and LVD cohorts demonstrated significantly lower major morbidity rates compared to the ALPPS cohort. The LVD cohort also demonstrated a significantly lower 90-day mortality rate compared to both the PVE and ALPPS cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS

LVD in adequately selected patients may induce adequate and profound FLR hypertrophy before major hepatectomy. Present evidence demonstrated significantly lower major morbidity and mortality rates in the LVD cohort than in the ALPPS and PVE cohorts.