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Quality of life (QoL) after hepatic resection is a pertinent issue that has been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to compare changes in QoL before and after hepatic resection.A systematic review was performed using Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library. Whenever possible, pooled mean differences of survey scores pre- and post-operatively were calculated.22 studies were included comprising a total of 1785 participants. Using the EORTC-QLQ 30C survey, patients with benign disease tend to have better QoL post-surgery than those with malignant disease. There were post-operative improvements in the following FACT-HEP domains: physical at 9 months (MD 3.14, 95%CI 2.70 to 3.58, P 0.001), social and family at 3 (MD 1.45, 95%CI 0.12 to 2.77, p = 0.030), 6 (MD 1.12, 95%CI 0.21 to 2.04, p = 0.020), 9 (MD 0.66, 95%CI 0.03 to 1.28, p = 0.040), and 12 (MD 0.58, 95%CI 0.12 to 1.03, p = 0.010) months, emotional at 9 (P 0.001) and 24 months (P 0.001), hepatobiliary at 24 months (p 0.001), and global health status at 9 months (p = 0.002).QoL scores tend to deteriorate post-surgery, but recover to baseline in the long-term at 9-months. Patients with malignant disease, and those who underwent major hepatectomy, have poorer QoL scores.