Laparoscopic liver resection:Experience based guidelines

Laparoscopic liver resection(LLR) has been progressively developed along the past two decades. Despite initial skepticism, improved operative results made laparoscopic approach incorporated to surgical practice and operations increased in frequency and complexity. Evidence supporting LLR comes from case-series, comparative studies and meta-analysis. Despite lack of level 1 evidence, the body of literature is stronger and existing data confirms the safety, feasibility and benefits of laparoscopic approach when compared to open resection. Indications for LLR do not differ from those for open surgery. They include benign and malignant(both primary and metastatic) tumors and living donor liver harvesting. Currently, resection of lesions located on anterolateral segments and left lateral sectionectomy are performed systematically by laparoscopy in hepatobiliary specialized centers. Resection of lesions located on posterosuperior segments(1, 4a, 7, 8) and major liver resections were shown to be feasible but remain technically demanding procedures, which should be reserved to experienced surgeons. Hand-assisted and laparoscopy-assisted procedures appeared to increase the indications of minimally invasive liver surgery and are useful strategies applied to difficult and major resections. LLR proved to be safe for malignant lesions and offers some short-term advantages over open resection. Oncological results including resection margin status and long-term survival were not inferior to open resection. At present, surgical community expects high quality studies to base the already perceived better outcomes achieved by laparoscopy in major centers' practice. Continuous surgical training, as well as new technologies should augment the application of lap-aroscopic liver surgery. Future applicability of new technologies such as robot assistance and image-guided surgery is still under investigation.

Repeat hepatectomy for recurrent colorectal liver metastases:A comparative analysis of short-and long-term results

Background: Liver recurrence after resection of colorectal liver metastases(CRLM) is frequent. Repeat hepatectomy has been shown to have satisfactory perioperative results. However, the long-term outcomes and the benefts for patients with early recurrence have not been clarifed. The aim of this study was to compare the short-and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing single hepatectomy and repeat hepatectomy for CRLM. Additionally, the oncological outcomes of patients with early( ≤ 6 months) and late recurrence who underwent repeat hepatectomy were compared. Methods: Consecutive adult patients undergoing hepatectomy for CRLM between June 20 0 0 and February 2020 were included and divided into two groups: single hepatectomy and repeat hepatectomy. Results: A total of 709 patients were included: 649 in the single hepatectomy group and 60 in the repeat hepatectomy group. Patients in the repeat hepatectomy group underwent more cycles of preoperative chemotherapy [4(3-6) vs. 3(2-4), P = 0.003]. Patients in the single hepatectomy group more frequently underwent major hepatectomies(34.5% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.004) and had a greater number of lesions resected(2.9 ± 3.6 vs. 1.9 ± 1.8, P = 0.011). There was no increase in operative time, estimated blood loss, length of hospital stay, complications, or mortality in the repeat hepatectomy group. There were no differences in overall survival( P = 0.626) and disease-free survival( P = 0.579) between the two groups. Similarly, for patients underwent repeat hepatectomy, no difference was observed between the early and late recurrence groups in terms of overall survival( P = 0.771) or disease-free survival( P = 0.350). Conclusions: Repeat hepatectomy is feasible and safe, with similar short-and long-term outcomes when compared to single hepatectomy. Surgical treatment of early liver recurrence offers similar oncological outcomes to those obtained for late recurrence.

Rare cause of abdominal incidentaloma: Hepatoduodenal ligament teratoma

The occurrence of a hepatoduodenal ligament teratoma is extremely rare,with only a few cases reported in the literature.This case report describes the discovery of a hepatoduodenal ligament lesion revealed during abdominal ultrasonography for cholelithiasis-related abdominal pain in a 27-year-old female.Cross-sectional imaging identified a 5 cm×4 cm heterogeneous mass of fat tissue with irregular calcification located in the posterior-superior aspect of the head of the pancreas.An encapsulated lesion showing no invasion to the common bile duct or adjacent organs and vessels was exposed during laparotomy and resected.Intraop-erative cholangiography during the cholecystectomy showed no abnormalities.The postoperative course was uneventful.Pathological analysis of the resected mass indicated hepatoduodenal ligament teratoma.This case report demonstrates that cross-sectional im-aging,such as computed tomography,can reveal sus-pected incidences of this rare type of teratoma,which can then be confirmed after pathologic analysis of the specimen.The prognosis after complete surgical resec-tion of lesions presenting with benign pathological fea-tures is excellent.