The present paper describes a method for intraoperative recovery of respiratory motion and deformation of the liver by using a laparoscopic freehand 3D ultrasound (US) system. The proposed method can extend 3D US data of the liver to 4D by acquiring additional several sequences of time-varying 2D US images during a couple of respiration cycles. 2D US images are acquired on several sagittal image planes and their time-varying 3D positions and orientations are measured using a miniature magnetic 3D position sensor attached to a laparoscopic US (LUS) probe. During the acquisition, the LUS probe is assumed to move together with hepatic surface. Respiratory phases and in-plane 2D deformation fields are estimated from time-varying 2D US images, and then time-varying 3D deformation fields on sagittal image planes are obtained by combining 3D positions and orientations of the image planes. Time-varying 3D deformation field of the volume, that is, 4D deformation field, is obtained by interpolating the 3D deformation fields estimated on several planes. In vivo experiments using a pig liver showed that the proposed method could perform accurate estimation of respiratory cycle and in-plane 2D deformation fields. Furthermore, evaluation for the effects of sagittal plane interval indicated that 4D deformation fields could be stably recovered.