Minimally invasive liver resection for cholangiolocellular carcinoma: A single-institution experience

Cholangiolocellular carcinoma (CoCC) resembles cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) and presents a variety of imaging findings; thus, preoperative diagnosis is often difficult.

We retrospectively studied patients who were diagnosed with CoCC at the Kansai Rosai Hospital from 2006 to 2021 and treated by laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) or open liver resection (OLR).

Among 918 liver resections, 15 patients were diagnosed with CoCC: 11 underwent LLR and 4 OLR. For LLR and OLR, respectively, patient age was 69.9 ± 6.8 and 72.8 ± 10.6, sex was M/F: 10/1 and 2/2, Child-Pugh was A/B/C: 10/1/0 and 4/0/0, liver damage was A/B/C: 8/3/0 and 4/0/0, preoperative diagnosis was CoCC/CCC/HCC: 1/2/8 and 2/2/0, pathological stage of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) was IA/IB/II/IIIA/IIIB/IV: 8/0/2/1/0/0 and 0/0/3/0/1/0 (p = .0312), and extent of liver resection was Hr0/HrS/Hr1/Hr2/: 3/0/5/3 and 1/1/0/2. In LLR and OLR, respectively, operation time was 417.5 ± 191.0 and 407.5 ± 187.9 min, blood loss was 123.3 ± 217.4 and 1385.0 ± 1038.7 mL, and postoperative hospital stay was 12.2 ± 13.7 and 15.0 ± 6.6 days. For stages I and II/III, respectively, the 5-year disease-free survival rates were 100.0% and 34.3%, and the 5-year overall survival rates were 100.0% and 55.6%. For stage II/III LLR and OLR, respectively, the 3-year disease-free survival rates were 33.3% and 37.5% (p = .8418), and the 5-year overall survival rates were 66.7% and 50.0% (p = .8084).

Although further studies are still needed to confirm, minimally invasive liver resection without lymph node dissection is one of a safe and effective approach to the management of CoCC.