Calculation of Standard Liver Volume of Korean Adults

Hwang, Shin; Lee, Sung Gyu; Lee, Young Joo; Park, Kwang Min; Jeon, Hoon Bae; Kim, Pyo Nyun; Min, Pyung Chul

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver size disparity is a common problem in liver transplantation and safe range of remnant liver volume after massive liver resection still remains arguable. CT volumetry is a valuable tool for measurement of total and segmental liver volume. We measured liver volume with CT volumetry to establish a formula for calculating the standard liver volume of Korean adults to provide baseline information for hepatobiliary surgery.
METHODS
We devised a video-digitizing volumetry using printed CT film and its limit of error was 3% compared with results from commercial CT volumetry. The volume of 40 normal livers was measured by commercial CT volumetry and by our method.
RESULTS
Body index of 40 cases was distributed from -9% to 20%. The whole liver volume correlated well with body surface area and there was no difference between male and female. However, segmental liver volume did not correlate with body surface area.
CONCLUSIONS
The Predicting equation was determined to be, whole liver volume(ml) = 691 x body surface area(m2) + 95, with a theoretical range of error of about 10%. This equation can be utilized in liver transplantation as well as massive liver resection for prediction of standard liver volume in Koreans.