Left hepatectomy steps

A left hepatectomy removes the left portion of the liver while preserving healthy liver tissue when possible. Before surgery, imaging and blood tests help the team map the tumour, nearby blood vessels, bile ducts, and the amount of liver that can remain. The procedure takes place under general anaesthesia. The surgeon separates the planned liver tissue, controls blood vessels and bile drainage, removes the specimen, and checks the remaining liver. The operation may use open or minimally invasive access, depending on the tumour and your anatomy.

Follow the instructions about eating, drinking, medicines, and smoking before admission. Arrange help at home, because lifting and strenuous activity may be restricted while the incision heals. In hospital, staff monitor pain, breathing, wound drainage, liver blood tests, and your ability to eat and walk. Gentle movement helps recovery, while short walks should be increased gradually. Your team will explain when you can drive, work, bathe, and resume exercise. The reason for surgery may include Bowel Cancer, Liver Cancer, or Liver Metastases; the pathology result helps guide further care.

Contact your surgical team promptly for fever, worsening abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, increasing yellowing of the eyes or skin, a swollen abdomen, new confusion, or redness and discharge from the wound. Seek emergency help for severe breathlessness, fainting, heavy bleeding, or sudden chest pain. These symptoms can have several causes, so describe when they began and how they are changing.

Ask which liver segments will be removed, whether the approach is open or minimally invasive, and how the remaining liver was assessed. Clarify the expected hospital stay, pain plan, wound care, activity limits, pathology timing, and signs that require a call. Ask whether Liver Resection or Tumour Ablation is relevant to your treatment plan.