Background: Laparoscopic surgery is considered the standard method for many kind of pathologies, including gallbladder and spleen. However, in liver diseases, the application of laparoscopic method has been limited due to the technical
difficulties and the risk of bleeding and air embolisms. The objective of this study was to analyze the feasibility of the laparoscopic approach in liver disease and present different laparoscopic mehtods of treatment.
Methods:
A retrospective reivew of 36 patients who underwent laparoscopic liver resection for benign and malignant liver diseases between November 1995 and November 2001 was carried out. Laparoscopic-assisted liver resections were performed in 30
patients,
gasless laparoscopic liver resections in 5, and hand-assisted laparoscopic resection in 1. Fifteen patients had benign liver diseases and 21, malignant liver diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic hepatic tumor.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.1 (42-79) years and there were 22 men and 14 women. The mean operation time was 253.8(120-450) minutes and the mean hospital stay, 10.0(5-19) days. The range of resection consisted of the left
lateral
segmentectomies in 22 patients, right lobectomy in 1, left lobectomies in 2, bisegmentectomy in 1 and subsegmentectomies in 9. In malignant tumor, the mean size was 3.9 (1.3-7.5)㎝. Complications were noted in 4 (11%) patients, but none was
life-threatening. No mortality was present in this series.
Conclusions: The laparoscopic liver resection is a feasible and relatively safe procedure without sacrificing all the known benefits of the laparoscopic surgery. Not only for the benign liver disease, but also for the malignant disease
could
be
applied these laparoscopic methods.
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