In this study, the risk factors related to intraperitoneal septic complications occurring after hepatectomy (IPSCH) as well as the effect of various perioperative variables on the outcome of IPSCH between 1985 and 1990 were analyzed. Twenty-one of 211 patients (10.0%) developed IPSCH. The findings in the patients with IPSCH were compared with those in 190 patients without IPSCH. The significant variables associated with the development of IPSCH included a high incidence of accompanying chronic renal failure (14.3% vs 2.1%), a larger blood loss during surgery (2,130 vs 1,340 ml) as well as a greater amount of intraoperative blood replacement (1,130 vs 570 ml), and a greater weight of the resected liver (367 vs 233 g). IPSCH occurred in 10 of 12 patients who had postoperative bile leakage. Eighteen patients (85.7%) with IPSCH were discharged from the hospital after non-operative management; however, the hospital death rate (14.3% vs 1.1%) was significantly higher in patients with IPSCH. This review suggests that the incidence of IPSCH has not decreased recently. Thus, to prevent IPSCH, at least following bile leakage, it is necessary to perform a careful division of the liver parenchyma followed by a bile leakage test, and when this complication occurs unexpectedly in patients who have a good functional reserve of the remnant liver, IPSCH can be effectively drained percutaneously under ultrasound guidance.