Background : An Increasing number of small prospective studies have been published, sincethe first report of laparoscopic liver resection by Gagner et al. in 1992. They have shownencouraging results for the feasibility and safety of the procedure. This paper provides aretrospective analysis of a single center’s experience with elective laparoscopic liverresections.
Methods : We did a retrospective study on laparoscopic liver resections performed from July20051o April 2009, undertaken in 34 patients with preoperative diagnosis of a benign lesion (7 cases, 20.6%), hepatocellular carcinoma in absence of complicated cirrhosis (18 cases,52.9%), or liver metastasis (9 cases, 26.4%). The mean tumor size was 2.63 i: 1.57 cm (range0.55-7.5)
Results : We can-ied out 15 wedge resecBons (44.1%), 3 nght hemi-hepatectomies (8.8%), 4left hemi-hepatectomies (11.8%), 5 liver segmentectomies (14.7%), 7 left lateralsectionectomies (20.6%). The average duration of an operation was 175.00U:129.12 minutes.There were 6 patients (15%) in which a conversion to laparotomy was required none of theconversions occurred under emergency situations. Intraoperative transfusion was required for5 patients (14.7%). Postoperative complications developed in 2 patients (5.8%) (1intraabdominal abscess, 1 bile leakage). There were no deaths and no reoperations forcomplications. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 9.9 days.
Conclusion : Our experience shows that laparoscopic liver resections, including majorhepatectomies, are feasible and safe. Nonetheless, a prospective randomization study with agreater number of cases and longer follow-up is needed before laparoscopic liver resecBoncan be regarded as the gold-standard approach for hepatic lesions.
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