Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy: establishment of an animal model with insufficient liver remnant

Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) allows extended hepatectomy in patients with an extremely small future liver remnant (FLR). Current rodent models of ALPPS do not include resection resulting in insufficient-for-survival FLR, or they do incorporate liver mass reduction prior to ALPPS. Differences in FLR volume and surgical procedures could bias our understanding of physiological and hemodynamic mechanisms. We aimed to establish a rat ALPPS model with minimal FLR without prior parenchymal resection. In rodents, the left median lobe (LML) represents 10% of total liver. Partial hepatectomy (PHx) sparing LML and pericaval parenchyma represents our reference 87% resection. The first step in the procedure is either portal vein ligation (PVL) corresponding to ligation of all but the LML portal branches, or PVL with transection between the left and right median lobe segments (PVLT), and is defined as ALPPS stage-1. Second, ligated lobes were removed: PVL-PHx represents a conventional 2-stage hepatectomy, while PVLT followed by PHx is a strict reproduction of human ALPPS. In Group A, liver hypertrophy was analyzed after PVL ( n = 38), PVLT ( n = 47), T ( n = 10), and sham ( n = 10); In group B, mortality and FLR hypertrophy was assessed after PHx ( n = 42), Sham-PHx ( n = 6), PVL-PHx ( n = 37), and PVLT-PHx ( n = 45). In group A, PVLT induced rapid FLR hypertrophy compared to PVL ( p < 0,05). Hepatocyte proliferation was higher in PVLT remnants ( p < 0,05). In group B, PHx had a 5-day mortality rate of 84%. Sham operation prior to PHx did not improve survival ( p = 0.23). In both groups, major fatalities occurred within 48 h after resection. PVL or PVLT prior to PHx reduced mortality to 33.3% ( p = 0,007) or 25% ( p = 0.0002) respectively, with no difference between the 2 two-stage procedures ( p = 0.6). 7-day FLR hypertrophy was higher after the PVLT-PHx compared to PVL-PHx and PHx ( p = 0.024). Our model reproduces human ALPPS with FLR that is insufficient for survival without liver resection prior to the stage-1 procedure. It offers an appropriate model for analyzing the mechanisms driving survival rescue and increased hypertrophy.