Portal vein embolization (PVE) is a technique used before hepatic resection to increase the size of liver segments that will remain after surgery. This therapy redirects portal blood to segments of the future liver remnant (FLR), resulting in hypertrophy. PVE is indicated when the FLR is either too small to support essential function or marginal in size and associated with a complicated postoperative course. When appropriately applied, PVE has been shown to reduce postoperative morbidity and increase the number of patients eligible for curative intent resection. PVE is also being combined with other therapies in novel ways to improve surgical outcomes. This article reviews the rationale, technical considerations, and current use of preoperative PVE.

No abstract

Participants viewed video clips of a left or right-handed reach toward an object that was orientated with a handle to the left or right. They were required to classify the object by making a left or right-handed key-press and ignore the reach. These responses were, never-the-less, affected by the observed reach in ways which largely reflected the opportunities for complementary actions in the viewed scenes, given the simultaneous constraints of the object orientation combined with the direction and hand of reach. These influences are claimed to reflect the interdependency of the action possibilities that arise from a set of objects and agents in three-dimensional space that together determine behaviour.