Combination of Indocyanine green clearance test and remnant liver volume for safe major hepatectomy

Abstract

Indocyanine green (ICG) clearance and remnant liver volume (RLV) are the two important factors in predicting post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) after major hepatectomy; however, the combination of these is still controversial. This study is to find a way to combine these to select candidates for safe major hepatectomy. A prospective cohort study included 137 major hepatectomies. ICG clearance (through ICG remnant at 15 minutes: ICG-R15), liver function results and the ratio of remnant to standard liver volume (RLV/SLV) were analyzed to examine their relations to PHLF. These variables, gender and age were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression to establish a model to predict PHLF. PHLF rate after major hepatectomy was 16.8% with 5.8% for grade B-C. ICG-R15 and RLV/SLV were significantly associated with PHLF (p = 0.019 and 0.007 respectively). ICG-R15 was not significantly associated with the grade of PHLF while RLV/SLV was but the post-hoc analysis showed no significant difference. Group RLV/SLV < 40% tended to have higher rate and grade of PHLF than group RLV/SLV > 40% but the difference was not significant (p = 0.063 and 0.072 respectively). Based on gender, age, ICG-R15 and RLV/SLV, PHLF rate could be estimated with model performance of 77%. ICG clearance and RLV were associated with PHLF after major hepatectomy. It was safe and feasible to perform major hepatectomy with RLV/SLV under 40% and good ICG-R15. It was possible to estimate PHLF rate based on the patients’ gender, age, ICG-R15 and RLV/SLV.