Lessons learned from 100 initial cases of laparoscopic liver surgery.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) is now widely accepted and is being increasingly performed. The present study describes our experience with LLR at a single center over an eight-year period.

METHODS:

This retrospective study enrolled 100 patients between October 2002 and February 2010. Forty-six benign lesions and 54 malignant lesions were included. The LLR performed included 58 pure laparoscopy procedures, 18 hand-assisted laparoscopy procedures and 24 hybrid technique procedures.

RESULTS:

The mean age of the patients was 57 years; among these patients, 31 were over 65 years of age. The mean operation time was 220 minutes. The overall morbidity was 11% and the mortality was zero. Among the 20 patients with simple hepatic cysts, 50% unexpectedly recurred. Among the 41 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 21 patients (51%) underwent preoperative radiofrequency ablation therapy or transarterial chemoembolization. During parenchymal-transection, 11 received blood transfusion. The width of the resection margins was under 0.5 cm in 11 cases (27%); 0.5 to 1 cm in 22 cases (54%) and over 1 cm in eight cases (12%). There was no port site seeding, but argon beam coagulation-induced tumor dissemination was observed in two cases. The overall two-year survival rate was 75%.

CONCLUSION:

This study suggests that the applications for LLR can be gradually expanded when assuring that the safety and curability of LLR are equivalent to that of open liver resection.

• Authors: Mi Ri Lee, Young Hoon Kim, Young Hoon Roh, Sung Yong Oh, Jin Han Cho, Jong Hoon Lee, Sung Wook Lee, Myung Hwan Roh, Jin Sook Jeong, Sang Young Han, Ghap Joong Jung
• Journal: Journal of the Korean Surgical Society (J Korean Surg Soc) Vol. 80 Issue 5 Pg. 334-41 (May 2011) ISSN: 2093-0488 [Electronic] Korea (South)
• PMID: 22066057 (Publication Type: Journal Article)