The results of surgical treatment in patients with liver alveococcosis in a hepato-pancreato-biliary center (a 10-years’ experience)

Background: Aggressive course of liver alveococcosis makes it possible to designate it as a “parasitic liver cancer”. The main treatment method for the disease is surgery. The parasitic mass is resected according to R0 principles, with concomitant plastic surgery of the major vessels and bile ducts to increase resectability. Aim: To assess the potential of surgical treatment in patients with advanced liver alveococcosis using transplantation techniques. Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed in- and outpatient medical files of 62 subjects with confirmed liver alveococcosis, who had been treated in the Volga District Medical Centre (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) from 2008 to 2018. Thirty two (32) patients had advanced liver alveococcosis with involvement of afferent and efferent vasculature and biliary tract. Surgical procedures were used in 50/62 patients (or 4.2% of the total number of liver resections performed during this time interval, n = 1197). Complications occurred in 46% (23 / 50) of the cases. Twenty nine (29, or 58%) patients had been operated before (mostly cytoreductive resections and/or explorative laparotomies). Distant lung metastases were found in 2 (4%) patients. Results: Fifty (50) patients had curative surgical procedures: liver resections in 45, deceased donor orthotopic liver transplantations in 5. Most common were extensive liver resections (more than 4 segments). Resection and reconstruction of the main vessels were necessary in 50% (25 cases) of the patients, including v. cava inferior in 25 cases and the portal vein in 24 cases. In 31 patients, resection and reconstruction of extra-hepatic bile ducts was performed, and in 17 (33%) patients resections of the neighboring organs, such as diaphragm, lung, right adrenal, duodenum, stomach, and colon. In 4 cases, resections were performed ex situ ex vivo , followed by auto-transplantation, including 2 cases with reverse auto-transplantation of the left lateral sector to the right. The incidence of liver failure events grade A  and B (by International Study Group of Liver Surgery, ISGLS) did not exceed 10% (4 patients). Complications were seen in 25 cases, including Clavien – Dindo Grade II in 5, Grade IIIb in 13, Grade IVb in 2, and Grade V in 5. The number of bile leakage events (ISGLS) class B was 6 and class C 10. All patients underwent obligatory adjuvant anti-parasitic therapy. Conclusion: At present, surgical treatment of liver alveococcosis remains a method of choice, that requires that the hepato-pancreato-biliary center would have in place a well-developed transplantation program, adequate equipment and well-trained surgical and anesthetic teams.