[The role of splenectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and hypersplenism as an aid to hepatectomy].

To evaluate the clinical value of splenectomy for hepatic resection, a total of 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and hypersplenism were examined focusing on a change of total serum bilirubin values after surgery. Both hepatectomy and splenectomy were simultaneously performed in 12 patients, and in 8 patients as a staged operation. Postoperatively, a significant depression of bilirubin values was observed in a group with the preoperative values between 1.0mg/dl and 2.0mg/ml. Three factors (bilirubin, albumin and prothrombin time) in clinical stage were improved just after splenectomy with a statistical significance (p less than 0.05) in a group received staged operation. In 7 out of 8 patients, clinical stages were getting better as one or two stages prior to the hepatectomies. Therefore, we recommend the addition of splenectomy to hepatectomy in the patients whose hyperbilirubinemia are assumed to be correlated with coexisting hypersplenism.