TANGO-LIVER Three Arm Nuclear Growth Observation in Liver Surgery

Liver resection is the treatment of choice in patients with malignant liver lesions. Unfortunately, the surgery is not always an option, as in same patients the future remnant liver (FRL) is too small to supply all the functions. Therefore, some additional methods have been proposed to increase the size of the FRL. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of three methods of increasing the future remnant liver - Portal Vein Embolization (PVE) - embolization of one of the portal branches; Liver Vein Deprivation (LVD) - embolization both of the portal branch as well as the hepatic vein; and partial ALPPS (Associating Liver Partition and Portal vein Ligation for Staged hepatectomy) - ligation of portal vein branch with partial liver transection. The efficacy of those three methods will be assessed both by analyzing the volumetric increase (by computer tomography scans) and by functional increase (by 99mTc-mebrofenin scintigraphy). Functional assessment of the liver hypertrophy seems to be of crucial importance, as some of the previous studies suggest that there might be a significant discrepancy in the increase of size comparing to the increase of function. This is a prospective, interventional randomized study. The study group (154 patients) will consist of patients being considered as candidates for major hepatic resection, after inducing hypertrophy of the future remnant liver. The primary study hypothesis is greater efficacy of ALPPS in preparing patients for large hepatic resection by inducing hypertrophy of the future remnant liver, as compared both to PVE and LVD. In case of unsuccessful induction of hypertrophy by the embolization techniques, patients may be qualified to rescue ALPPS procedure. Primary end-point: Percentage of patients with successful resection (patients, who gained sufficient increase of the FRL to proceed to the liver resection) with no post-surgical 90-day mortality. Secondary end-points: 1. the rate and degree of