Anaesthesia for hepatic resection surgery

The liver is the only mammalian organ that can regenerate functionally active parenchyma after tissue loss. Exploitation of this physiological property has allowed for the liver resection surgery to develop, and it is now a commonly performed procedure. During the 1970s, perio-perative mortality for hepatic resection was quoted around 20%, commonly because of uncontrollable bleeding and postoperative liver failure. Improvements in the understanding of liver anatomy, patient selection, and also surgi-cal and anaesthetic techniques have contributed to a reduction in quoted perioperative mortality to around 3%,1 although patients with parench-ymal liver disease (e.g. cirrhosis) have signifi