Algorithm for computational liver resection planning

In liver resection planning, the optimum surgical margin should be selected at the minimum risk, with the help of the processed MDCT data and the expert knowledge of the surgeon. Apart from the volumetric considerations, the manual decision making depends mainly on qualitative analysis, where proper risk estimation is heavily dependent on the surgeon´s experience, sometimes leading to abandoning of possible surgical treatments. Therefore, a quantitative analysis based decision making is essential in order to predict a lowest risk surgical proposal, especially in non segment based atypical resection. In this paper we analyze an approach with a high potential to solve this problem. The proposed method is based on an algorithm for segmented liver, tumor, and vascular territories in MDCT images. Moreover, we propose two independent viewing angles to generate a resection proposal and critically compare them for benefits and draw backs.