Rescue strategy for advanced liver malignancy with retrohepatic inferior vena cava thrombi: experience to promote surgical oncological benefit

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of advanced liver malignancy with inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombi is poor. Many therapeutic policies are challenging for long-term prognosis. We performed the modified effective technique of transdiaphragmatic intrapericardial IVC isolation for curative resection of IVC tumors and prolonged survival time. METHODS: Between 2003 and 2015, 10 patients, sustained liver malignancy with IVC thrombi, underwent surgical intervention. Liver resection with thrombectomy under total hepatic vascular exclusion via the transdiaphragmatic intrapericardial IVC isolation method was performed for these 10 patients. The first 4 patients underwent retrohepatic IVC resection in order to complete resection, and the other 6 patients preserved the retrohepatic IVC. The last 3 patients received preoperative locoregional therapies, and all 10 patients received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapies immediately. RESULTS: All 10 patients underwent gross en bloc tumor resections with thrombectomy with R0 resection. There was no surgical mortality. Shortening of operation time and reduction of both intraoperative blood loss and hospital stay were demonstrated in the last 6 patients with preserving the retrohepatic IVC. However, similar time to recurrence and survival time were noted in the first 7 patients. The last 3 patients, who had received preoperative locoregional therapies, have better disease-free survival time. CONCLUSION: Simplified surgical procedure combined with preoperative locoregional therapies and rapid postoperative adjuvant treatment may provide a greater advantage for these patients. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12957-017-1145-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.