Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Apr 27, 2022; 14(4): 341-351
Published online Apr 27, 2022. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v14.i4.341
Subacute liver and respiratory failure after segmental hepatectomy for complicated hepatolithiasis with secondary biliary cirrhosis: A case report
Wen-Juan Fan, Xiao-Jing Zou
Wen-Juan Fan, Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China
Xiao-Jing Zou, Emergency Department/Intensive Care Unit, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Fan WJ reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting and imaging data interpretation; Zou XJ was responsible for revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors provided approval of the final version for submission and publication.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from family members of the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicting interests to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Jing Zou, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Emergency Department/ Intensive Care Unit, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1095 Jiefang District, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China. ph.ggto@163.com
Received: November 26, 2021
Peer-review started: November 26, 2021
First decision: January 8, 2022
Revised: January 17, 2022
Accepted: March 27, 2022
Article in press: March 27, 2022
Published online: April 27, 2022
Processing time: 149 Days and 5.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Treatment of complicated hepatolithiasis with bilateral intrahepatic stones is challenging. In this case of complicated hepatolithiasis with diffuse intrahepatic stones, liver imaging before surgery showed a normal morphology, but nodular and atrophic changes observed during segmental hepatectomy indicated cirrhosis. Preoperatively, the patient’s liver function was Child-Pugh class B, and the presence of splenomegaly indicated decompensated liver cirrhosis. Postoperatively, the patient experienced persisting elevated total bilirubin and worsened coagulation function. The patient ultimately experienced liver failure, respiratory failure, and septicemia resulting from severe biliary infection. Further treatment was discontinued at the family’s request.