Segmental liver resection in a child using intraoperative ultrasound-guided radiofrequency energy

Abstract

Segmental surgical liver resection is still considered the only potentially curative option for patients with resectable liver tumors. Intraoperative bleeding may be a dangerous complication even in an expert's hands. A bloodless technique of radiofrequency (RF)–assisted segmental liver resection was performed in a 9-year-old girl with a mycobacterial spindle cell pseudotumor of the liver. Under intraoperative ultrasound guidance, the liver parenchyma was coagulated along the marked resection plane by a single “cooled-tip” RF electrode and then divided with a surgical knife. A nearly bloodless resection of the parenchyma was achieved within 25 minutes. The patient was discharged on the fifth postoperative day without complications. My early experience shows that RF-assisted liver resection offers a valuable additional option for bloodless removal of liver tumors in pediatric age.