<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p><italic>Background:</italic> Wedge or other nonanatomic hepatic resections, performed in an
attempt to spare functional parenchyma, often are not accomplished with clear resection
margins and may be complicated by hemorrhage from the depth of the resection.</p> <p><italic>Study Design:</italic> The current study describes a technique of cryoassisted hepatic
resection that allows for controlled resection with well-defined margins. The early
experience in managing 16 tumors in 13 patients is reported.</p> <p><italic>Results:</italic> A cryoprobe is inserted into the tumor and freezing performed to a predetermined
resection margin using ultrasound control. The ice ball, so formed, is then
maintained and excised. The management of these 13 patients was associated with one
intraoperative and two postoperative complications, including a death of a patient with
cirrhosis who had infected ascites and died as a result of hepatic failure.</p> <p><italic>Conclusions:</italic> Cryoassisted hepatic resection seems to be safe and allows resection
with good tumor clearance and maximal preservation of functional parenchyma.</p>
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HPB Surg. 1996; 9(2):118-120