Background: Even during laparoscopic hepatectomy, a technique is often required to expose the major vessels, for example, in anatomical hepatectomy. We have standardized and performed such laparoscopic hepatectomy as successfully as open hepatectomy.
Methods: We divide the liver parenchyma without pre-coagulation, exposing the major vessels using CUSA. To control the bleeding, we keep the central venous pressure low and often perform Pringle's maneuver. Over 49 months, we performed totally laparoscopic hepatectomies in 41 patients with the technique of exposing the major vessels. These included major hepatectomy in 7, sectorectomy in 17, segmentectomy in 14, and others in 3.
Results: The median operative time was 361 (range 176-605) minutes, with median blood loss of 216 (range 0-1600) g. The conversion rate was 4.9 %. Postoperative morbidity rate was 9.8 % (prolonged ascites in 1, port site infection in 1, peroneal palsy in 2). Mortality was zero. The median length of hospital stay after surgery was 8 (range 5-28) days. No local recurrence was found at the time of writing.
Conclusions: By using our standardized procedure exposing the major vessels, we could raise the quality of laparoscopic hepatectomy toward the level of open hepatectomy significantly.