Advantages of thoracoabdominal approach by oblique incision for right-side hepatectomy.
OBJECTIVE
Thoracoabdominal approach might be safe and facilitate hepatic resection for tumors located in the right lobe. To evaluate the clinical usefulness of the thoracoabdominal approach using oblique incision for the right-side hepatectomy, we compared the perioperative data with those of the abdominal approach.


METHODS
The oblique incision for the thoracoabdominal approach was placed along the intercostal space (Oblique group, n=13). The J-shape incision for abdominal approach consisted of an upper median incision and transverse incision (J-shape group, n=13).


RESULTS
Patient demographics were similar in the two groups. Operation time was significantly shorter in the oblique group (292 +/- 122 min) than in the J-shape group (450 +/- 137 min, p < 0.01). The difference was noted regardless of the extent of hepatic resection. Clamping time and blood loss were similar in the two groups. The postoperative period of use of analgesia tended to be shorter in the oblique group (9 +/- 3 days) than in the J-shape group (15 +/- 11 days) but not significant (p = 0.08). Postoperative liver function tests, complications and clinical outcome were not significantly different between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Thoracoabdominal approach using oblique incision was useful for resection of liver tumors located in the hepatic dome and posterior segment.
Nanashima
Atsushi
A
Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Translational Medical Sciences Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
Sumida
Yorihisa
Y
Tobinaga
Syuichi
S
Shindo
Hisakazu
H
Shibasaki
Shinichi
S
Ide
Noboru
N
Tokunaga
Takayuki
T
Tagawa
Tsutomu
T
Nakamura
Akihiro
A
Nagayasu
Takeshi
T
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies