Computed Tomography Contribution to Virtual Preoperative Liver Resection Planning

Hepatectomy is the main treatment of sizable benign or malignant liver tumors (primary or metastatic). The liver remnant is essential to be adequate in both volume and function in order to avoid severe complications or morbidity of the patient. Therefore the evaluation of the liver function and the future liver volume has become of paramount importance in the preoperative patient assessment. Computed tomography has a significant contribution in the multimodality preoperative imaging of the lesion and the liver infrastructure, as well as of the liver volume. The present article reviews the existing data regarding the impact and efficacy of the patents developed to enhance the capabilities of computed tomography, in terms of evaluating liver volume, function and surgical anatomy.