Liver resection for Caroli's disease        DOU Ke-feng, YANG Zhao-xu. Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery,Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
Corresponding author: DOU Ke-feng, E-mail：doukef@fmmu.edu.cn
Abstract    Caroli's disease (CD) is defined as a congenital cystic dilatation of the intrahepatic bile ducts. The goals of surgical management include removing the cystic dilated bile duct, avoiding cancer formation, reconstructing bile flow and easing the symptoms. Partial hepatectomy is one of the most common adopted surgical options for CD. For localized CD, it is potentially curative，providing long-term survival free of symptoms and complications. In selected cases of diffuse disease，surgical resection to remove major dilated intrahepatic bile duct cyst is also proposed. However, a close follow-up is mandatory because patients might progress and a transplant should be indicated. In most patients with diffuse CD, liver transplantation is the ultimate option，provides gratifying long-term results.