Long-Term Nononcologic Outcomes for Laparoscopic Liver Resection: Improvement over Open Hepatectomy?

Prior studies of laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) have evaluated long-term outcomes in terms of cancer survival, but few have evaluated nononcologic outcomes. This study analyzes long-term nondisease-specific complications associated with LLR and open liver resection (OLR). We performed a retrospective single-institution review of patients undergoing liver resection for any reason from January 2005 to December 2014. Long-term complication was defined as any complication not related to the primary disease process, and occurring more than 90 days after surgery, emphasizing incisional hernia (IH) and small bowel obstruction (SBO). A total of 208 patients were included in the OLR group and 79 patients in the LLR group. Forty-one patients (19.6%) developed IH after OLR, whereas only six patients (7.5%) developed IH after LLR (P = 0.01). About 3.8 per cent of patients developed IH requiring surgical repair in both groups. Seven patients developed SBO (3.4%) after OLR; no patient developed SBO after LLR. Median time to development of complications was 13.8 months (range 3-54 months) after OLR compared with 8.5 months after LLR (range 6-36 months). Male gender, body mass index, prior abdominal surgery, and OLR were independent risk factors for development of long-term complications. There is a higher incidence of nondisease-specific complications after OLR than LLR.