Surgical therapy of liver hilus tumors

Hilar resections and hemihepatectomies as surgical strategies for hilar cholangiocarcinoma achieve only limited rates of resectability and radicality. Principles of surgical oncology have to be applied in order to increase the numbers of patients undergoing resection as well as their long-term survival. Due to the anatomical architecture of the hepatic hilum and side-specific variations within the biliary tree, right trisectorectomy and principal portal vein resection have the potential to comply with basic rules of surgical oncology, i.e. wide tumor-free margins and a no-touch dissection technique. In our experience, 5-year survival after formally curative right trisectorectomy and portal vein resection is 65% in spite of advanced tumor stages. Resection of the entire biliary tract without dissection of the tumor is possible by combining total hepatectomy, partial pancreatoduodenectomy and liver transplantation. However, even this procedure does still not fully prevent tumor cell dissemination. So far, a putative alteration of tumor cell kinetics due to posttransplant immunosuppressive treatment results in an increased rate of implantation metastases.