ABSTRACT
Anesthetic management of patients undergoing hepatobiliary (HPB) procedures is dependent on a complete understanding of the potential benefits, limitations, and perioperative risks of complex surgical procedures, in the context of either preexisting liver disease and/or other coexisting disease states. Surgical criteria for patient selection are important (1). Where malignancy is involved, hepatic resection is established as the only currently available modality of treatment with curative potential. However, because only approximately 10% to 20% of patients presenting with hepatic malignancy are suitable for resection, other types of less invasive HPB surgical techniques are used to achieve reduction of tumor mass and symptomatic control. The following section outlines some surgical aspects for the more frequently encountered HPB operations, but is primarily concerned with hepatic resection. The general features of laparoscopic surgery and liver transplantation anesthesia are beyond the scope of this chapter.
