Background: Hepatectomy is particularly difficult when the tumor is large, close to the inferior vena cava or the main trunk of the hepatic or portal vein, or in the caudate lobe, as well as when the operation is a re-hepatectomy, because two-dimensional computed tomography (CT) often does not clearly show tumor location relative to blood vessels.
Study design: To evaluate the efficacy of three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT), reconstructed from multidetector-row computed tomography (MD-CT) with contrast, MD-CT was performed in 17 patients before hepatectomy.
Results: The third-order branches of the hepatic artery and the portal vein were clearly shown in all cases. Both the hepatic vein, which drained the same segment that the portal vein fed, and the portal vein were also clearly shown. These vessels could be visualized from any perspective. In 2 patients who underwent hemihepatectomy, large tumors (23.0 and 17.0 cm) displaced the vasculature, but the positions of tumor and vessels could be precisely evaluated by 3D-CT. In patients who required replacement of the vena cava with synthetic grafts, the distance and direction of pressure to IVC by tumor was accurately estimated by 3D-CT. In patients who were limited to segmentectomy or partial hepatectomy because of prior hepatectomy or tumor position, evaluation of the glissons was facilitated by 3D-CT.
Conclusions: Three-dimensional-CT was extremely useful for preoperative simulation because it provided important information that could not be obtained with 2D-CT.