Background: Preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) is performed for right liver (RL) and sometimes left liver (LL) resection to prevent postoperative surgical complications.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 10 patients who underwent preoperative left PVE before LL resection for hepatobiliary malignancies along with 3 propensity score-matched control groups (n = 40 each).
Results: Mean patient age was 68.6 ± 6.9 years. Diagnoses included intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (n = 4), perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (n = 3), neuroendocrine carcinoma (n = 1), recurrent cholangiocarcinoma (n = 1), and inflammatory liver mass (n = 1). The reason for left PVE was a large LL >40 % of the total liver volume (TLV) with a major comorbidity or age > 70 years with a poor overall condition. All patients underwent preplanned operations, including LL resection at 1-3 weeks post PVE. The LL volume proportion of the TLV was 44.9 ± 1.7 and 40.7 ± 2.3 % before and after PVE; thus, 1-2 weeks post PVE, the kinetic shrinkage rate of the LL was 9.4 ± 3.3 %, and the kinetic growth rate of the RL was 7.6 ± 2.7 %. The overall surgical complication rates were 40, 50, and 39.2 % in the left PVE, large LL control, and all three control groups, respectively (p ≥ 0.727). In contrast, the adjusted rates of major complications were 0 % in the left PVE group versus 36.8 % (p = 0.040), 25.6 % (p = 0.123), and 15.8 % (p = 0.295) in the large-, medium-, and small-sized LL control groups, respectively.
Conclusions: Our experience indicates that left PVE is safe and induces atrophy of the LL effectively. We suggest that it can be a useful option to reduce the risk of postoperative complications in elderly high-risk patients.