Treatment of polycystic liver disease: a hypothesis, patient characteristics, short and long-term results.

BACKGROUND Non-total liver resecting invasive treatment of polycystic liver disease has different recurrence rates. The aim of this study is to illustrate why the recurrence rates are different. We established a hypothesis that the cyst number is a constant in polycystic liver disease in a patient's lifetime. MATERIAL AND METHODS We selected 287 patients with polycystic liver, in which 35 patients had the record of liver volume, while other 252 patients had the record of length of right liver. Data were divided into 5 groups in terms of age. The intergroup comparison with different ages and clinical files of patients were analyzed. RESULTS The mean difference was statistically insignificant when compared amongst groups in the lengths of right liver respectively. Symptom recurrence rates (q) were 19.05 and 17.65% respectively after cyst aspiration-sclerotherapy and non-cyst aspiration-sclerotherapy. CONCLUSION The cyst number is a constant in patients with non-massive or massive polycystic liver disease in their lifetime.