Background
Liver venous deprivation (LVD) is a recent radiological technique performed to induce hypertrophy of the future liver remnant. Medium-term results of major hepatectomy after LVD have never been compared with the actual standard of care, portal vein embolization (PVE).
Methods
We retrospectively compared data from 33 consecutive patients who had undergone LVD (
n
= 17) or PVE (
n
= 16) prior to a right hemi-hepatectomy or right extended hepatectomy indicated for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) between May 2015 and December 2019.
Results
The 1-year and 3-year overall survival (OS) rates in the LVD group were 81.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 72–90) and 54.7% (95% CI: 46–63), respectively, against 85% (95% CI: 69–101) and 77.4% (95% CI: 54–100) in the PVE group; the differences were not statistically significant (
p
= 0.64). The median disease-free survival (DFS) rate was also comparable: 6 months (95% CI: 4–7) in the LVD group and 12 months (95% CI: 1.5–13) in the PVE group (
p
= 0.29). The overall intra-operative and post-operative complication rates were similar between the two groups. The mean daily kinetic growth rate (KGR) was found to be higher after LVD than after PVE (0.2% vs. 0.1%,
p
= 0.05; 10 cc/day vs. 4.8 cc/day,
p
= 0.03), as was the mean increase in future liver remnant volume (FLR-V) (49% vs. 27%,
p
= 0.01).
Conclusions
The LVD technique is well tolerated in patients undergoing right hemi-hepatectomy or right extended hepatectomy for CRLM. When compared with the PVE technique, the LVD technique has similar peri-operative and medium-term outcomes, but higher KGR and FLR-V increase.
Colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) are the major cause of death in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The cornerstone treatment of CRLM is surgical resection. Post-operative morbidity and mortality are mainly linked to an inadequate future liver remnant (FLR). Nowadays preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) is the most widely performed technique to increase the size of the future liver remnant (FLR) before major hepatectomies. One method recently proposed to increase the FLR is liver venous deprivation (LVD), but its oncological impact is still unknown. The aim of this study is to report first short- and long-term oncological outcomes after LVD in patients undergoing right (or extended right) hepatectomy for CRLM. Seventeen consecutive patients undergoing LVD between July 2015 and May 2020 before an (extended) right hepatectomy were retrospectively analyzed from an institutional database. Post-operative and follow-up data were analyzed and reported. Primary outcomes were 1-year and 3-year overall survival (OS) and hepatic recurrence (HR). Postoperative complications occurred in 8 patients (47%). No deaths occurred after surgery. HR occurred in 9 patients (52.9%). 1-year and 3-year OS were 87% (95% confidence interval [CI]: ±16%) and 60.3%, respectively (95% CI: ±23%). Median Disease-Free Survival (DFS) was 6 months (CI 95%: 4.7–7.2). With all the limitations of a retrospective study with a small sample size, LVD showed similar oncological outcomes compared to literature reports for Portal Vein Embolization (PVE).
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