Laparoscopic hepatectomy: indications and results from 18 resectable cases

To evaluate the early and late results from laparoscopic hepatectomy procedures at a tertiary hospital in Brasília (DF), Brazil.

The authors report on a series of 18 patients (11 women) who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy performed by a single surgical team at Santa Lúcia Hospital, in Brasília, between June 2007 and December 2010. Age ranged from 21 to 71 years (median = 43 years). There were eleven women and seven men. Nine patients had benign diseases and nine had malignant lesions. The lesion diameter ranged from 1.8 to 12 cm (mean: 4.96 cm).

Six major hepatectomy procedures and 12 minor hepatectomy procedures were performed. The mean duration of the operation was 205 minutes (range: 90 to 360 minutes). The mean intraoperative blood loss was 300 mL (range: 100 to 1,500 mL). Two patients received a transfusion (11%). There was one conversion to open surgery. There was no death and no patient underwent reoperation. The postoperative morbidity rate was 11% (n = 2). One patient presented with a minor complication (lobar pneumonia) while other presented with two major complications (intraoperative bleeding and incisional hernia). The median length of hospital stay was 4 days (range: 2 to 11 days). The median time to return to normal activities was 13 days (range: 7 to 40 days).

Laparoscopic hepatectomy is a safe surgical approach for treating both benign and malignant hepatic lesions. This small series showed no mortality, low morbidity and good cosmetic results.