A comparative study of the long-term outcomes after laparoscopy-assisted and open left lateral hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Laparoscopic hepatectomy was initially reported in 1992. However, the reported experiences are scarce, and this operation has not been a standard procedure until now. The aims of this study were to assess our results of laparoscopy-assisted left lateral hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to compare them with those of open conventional procedures.


METHODS
From 1984 to 2002, left lateral hepatectomy for HCC less than 5 cm in diameter was carried out in 21 patients. Ten patients received a laparoscopy-assisted procedure, and remaining 11 patients received an open procedure.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in the operation time, blood loss, resected liver weight, and resection margin between the 2 groups. The total time that analgesics were given, body temperature on postoperative day 1, weight loss on postoperative day 7, and postoperative hospital stay in the laparoscopic group were significantly better than in the conventional group. With regard to the long-term prognosis, there were no differences in patient survival or disease-free survival rates between the 2 groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Laparoscopy-assisted left lateral hepatectomy for HCC is superior to the conventional open surgery in terms of its short-term results and does not cause the long-term survival to deteriorate. Therefore, laparoscopic hepatectomy may be an alternative choice for treatment of HCC.
Endo
Yuichi
Y
Department of Surgery I, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Oita, Japan. endo@med.oita-u.ac.jp
Ohta
Masayuki
M
Sasaki
Atsushi
A
Kai
Seiichiro
S
Eguchi
Hidetoshi
H
Iwaki
Kentaro
K
Shibata
Kohei
K
Kitano
Seigo
S
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome