The authors report their experience with 20 patients who underwent liver resection for alveolar echinococcosis of the liver from June 1982 to March 1991. Resection was radical in 9 patients and non radical in 11 patients. The 9 patients treated by radical resection are alive. 8 patients are symptom-free and disease-free when one patient with a parasitic recurrence underwent another radical resection. Among the 11 patients treated by non radical resection, 4 of them died during the follow-up period, the cause of the death being related to the disease in 3 cases and non related in one case. When feasible, radical liver resection is the best form of therapy. When massive parasitic invasion precludes radical hepatectomy, non radical resection associated if necessary with percutaneous procedures should be considered before embarking on orthotopic liver transplantation.