Laparoscopic fenestration for giant liver cyst

Laparoscopic fenestration for treatment of the non-parasitic cyst of the liver has been rarely reported, but sporadic cases appeared elsewhere in the literature. Here we report four cases with symptomatic giant nonparasitic liver cysts which were treated by a laparoscopic fenestration procedure that allowed the successful removal of the cyst dome. Before starting to excise the wall of the cyst, laparoscopic-quided needle aspiration of the cyst fluid was done first in order to clean the visual field for laparoscopic intervention where possible. The cyst wall was usually slightly transparent and somewhat smooth in the external and internal surface of the cysts. It was necessary to lysis the omental adhesion sometime before starting to remove the dome of the cyst. The cyst wall of the exposed part could be removed first with heat-probe instrument through laparoscopy. Those patients were discharged and revealed an uneventful post-operative course in three cases but in one case we had to convert to the traditional laparostomy to perform resection of the multiple cystic lesions. Post-operative echographic study showed that the giant cyst had collapsed. Therefore, we believe laparoscopic fenestration for the liver cyst is simple and effective, if the patient is a candidate who requires operation to remove the dome of the giant cyst.