Liver

The liver is the largest human organ and has the potential to regeneration and growth after partial resection. This attribute, which was already known by the ancient greeks (saga of Prometheus) allows to operate liver repeatedly without causing an ongoing functional deficit.

The main job of the liver is to decontaminate the body from sludge products and to form key factors for protein synthesis among them coagulation factors, albumin and many proteins that are important for wound healing and muscle build up.

Operations on the liver are mostly necessary due to tumors which have either originated in the liver or more frequently due to metastases from tumors that have grown in other organs. The options for treatment are very comprehensive. The surgeon does not work alone in this scenario, but works in close collaboration gastroenterologists, oncologist and radiologist as well as with pathologists. Together it is possible in many cases to free the liver from metastases even if there are many of them in both main lobes. This requires sometimes several steps, procedures or operations, but in this way allows the liver for interim regeneration. In the following you find an overview over the most frequent liver operations.