[Pathophysiologic principles of modern liver surgery].

Successful liver surgery depends on the regeneration of the liver. Most of our knowledge about regeneration stems from experimental studies in rats. While morphological regeneration occurs early more sophisticated functions such as bile salt production and bile salt conjugation takes a long time to normalize. A review is given of the many factors that contribute to regeneration. The object of most current interest is the role of fibronectin. After experimental hepatectomy the secretion of plasma fibronectin increases. This might be the single most important factor involved in hepatic regeneration.