Interventional oncology: new options for interstitial treatments and intravascular approaches

Extensive hepatic resection is often associated with post-hepatectomy liver failure. Owing to the regenerative capacity of the liver, preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) has been proposed to increase the functional mass of the non-embolized liver segments that will remain in situ after surgery. However, in some patients, hypertrophy of the non-embolized liver segments following PVE is insufficient to support major hepatectomy. Several studies have demonstrated alternative techniques for inducing hypertrophy of the non-embolized liver segments, including PVE in conjunction with hepatic arterial embolization or hepatic vein embolization in conjunction with PVE. Investigation of new techniques for inducing hypertrophy of the future liver remnant can reasonably be expected to expand the selection criteria for extensive hepatic resection.