Which liver is splitable?

Abstract

Liver splitting for transplantation purposes is based on four major premises:

• ■the lobular anatomic structure of the liver that allows for separation of functionally independent subunits;

• ■the high functional reserve of a healthy liver that makes 30-400/0 of the standard organ mass sufficient for life support;

• ■the strong regenerative capacity which generally enables growth of the transplanted organ part to reach a normal liver mass within a few weeks; and

• ■the increasing knowledge and skill of liver transplant surgeons. Considering these facts in light of the limited number of donor organs available, liver splitting should be performed whenever possible in order to increase the number of transplantable organ parts.