Safety and feasibility of laparoscopic liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma with clinically significant portal hypertension: a propensity score-matched study.

BACKGROUND: The presence of clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) remains a relative contraindication to liver resection for patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The goal of this study was to explore whether a laparoscopic approach could extend the indications for hepatectomy to patients with PH. METHOD: Patients who underwent laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) from February 2016 to September 2019 performed by a single medical team were included in this study. We analyzed the surgical and oncological outcomes between groups with and without CSPH before and after propensity score matching (PSM). RESULT: We enrolled 156 patients divided into two groups according to the presence (CSPH, n = 26) or absence (non-CSPH, n = 130) of CSPH. CSPH group was associated with more clinical signs of liver dysfunction (p < 0.05). After PSM (n = 48 patients), the CSPH group tended to have a longer postoperative hospital stay (p = 0.054); however, there was no difference in operation time (p = 0.329), blood loss volume (p = 0.392), transfusion rates (p = 0.701), rate of conversion to open surgery (p = 0.666), surgical margin (p = 0.306), surgical mortality (n = 0), or comprehensive complication index (p = 0.844) between the two groups. The median follow-up time for the entire cohort was 19.6 months (range 0.2-40.6 months). The 3-year overall survival rate was 62.9% in the CSPH group and 84.3% in the non-CSPH group (p = 0.1090), and results were similar after PSM (p = 0.5734). CONCLUSIONS: LLR is safe and feasible for HCC with PH. The introduction of minimally invasive surgery, represented by LLR, can appropriately expand the indications for hepatectomy.

Differentiation and management of hepatobiliary mucinous cystic neoplasms: a single centre experience for 8 years.

BACKGROUND: Hepatobiliary mucinous cystic neoplasms (H-MCNs) are relatively rare cystic neoplasms in the liver. The differential diagnosis of H-MCNs remains big challenging, and the management and prognosis between the hepatic simple cyst (HSC) and H-MCNs are quite different. This study aimed to present our experience in the management of H-MCNs and provide a preoperative H-MCNs risk prediction nomogram to differentiating H-MCNs from liver cystic lesions. METHODS: 29 patients diagnosed with H-MCNs and 75 patients diagnosed with HSC between June 2011 and June 2019 at Zhejiang University School of medicine, Sir Run-Run Shaw Hospital were reviewed in this study. We analyzed the demographic and clinicopathological variables. RESULTS: US, CT, and MRI could accurately diagnose only 3.4%, 46.1%, and 57.1% of H-MCNs, respectively. After univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis, the variables significantly associated with H-MCNs were enhancement after contrast (p = 0.009), tumour located in the left lobe (p = 0.02) and biliary ductal dilation (p = 0.027). An H-MCNs risk predictive nomogram was constructed, which showed excellent discrimination (areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.940) and consistent calibration between the predicted probability and actual probability. CONCLUSION: Among patients with H-MCNs, the location of the tumour, enhancement in CT scan, and biliary duct dilation are significantly independent risk factors. The appropriate treatment of H-MCNs is radical resection. Using our Nomogram could facilitate screening and identification of patients with liver cystic lesions.

Laparoscopic repeat hepatectomy for treating recurrent liver cancer.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic repeat hepatectomy (LRH) is a technically challenging procedure, so LRH for recurrent liver cancer has not been widely accepted. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of the current literature to identify and evaluate available data of LRH for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC) and metastases tumour of liver, especially of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM), focusing on the safety and feasibility. METHODS: A comprehensive search of the PubMed database was performed for all studies published in English evaluating LRH for rHCC and recurrent metastases tumour of liver from 1st January, 2005 to 1st June, 2019. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies which comprised 444 patients and reported outcomes for the efficacy and safety of LRH in the treatment of rHCC or CRLM were included in the present review. Moreover, nine studies compared the perioperative outcomes of LRH versus open repeat hepatectomy (ORH). LRH was superior to ORH with reduced blood loss, shorter operative time, shorter hospital stay and lower morbidity rates. CONCLUSIONS: LRH can safely performed in rHCC or CRLM patients with cirrhosis, previous open hepatectomy, multiple recurrent lesions and tumours located in difficult posterosuperior segments.

A novel simple intra-corporeal Pringle maneuver for laparoscopic hemihepatectomy: how we do it.

INTRODUCTION: To prevent and control hemorrhage is the key to successfully perform laparoscopic hemihepatectomy (LHH). Pringle's maneuver (PM) is the standard hepatic inflow occlusion technique. Our study was to describe a novel simple way to perform totally intra-corporeal laparoscopic PM and to explore the feasibility of combining PM and selective hemihepatic vascular occlusion technique in LHH. METHODS: We extracted and analyzed the data of patients who consecutively underwent LHH to validate this new surgery technique. Between January, 2016 and December, 2017, 34 patients were included. Data of pre-operation, operation and post-operation were collected, including some demographic data, operative time, operative blood loss, transfusion rate, hepatic hilum occlusion rate and time, pathologic results, short-term complication, and postoperative hospitalization days. RESULTS: Only one patient (3.0%) in our series required conversion to laparotomy as a result of the severe adhesion. The average operative time was 216.9 ± 60.3 min. The mean hepatic inflow occlusion time was 25.3 ± 14.5 min. The average estimated blood loss was 192.9 ± 152.2 ml. All patients received R0 resection. CONCLUSION: The novel hepatic inflow occlusion device is a safe reliable and convenient technique for LHH that is associated with favorable perioperative outcomes and low risk of conversion.

Comparison on the efficacy and prognosis of different strategies for intrahepatic recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma: A systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high rate of recurrence. This network meta-analysis aimed to compare the oncological prognosis of the conventional treatments for intrahepatic recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC) and identify the optimal strategy. METHODS: We conducted a literature search of online database, published between January 2009 and October 2019. Relevant studies analyzing the outcomes of the different interventions for rHCC were included. We synthesized the results using R software and the "gemtc" package. RESULTS: A total of 21 studies involving 2818 patients were ultimately enrolled to be analyzed. We assessed five related therapeutic interventions and two oncological outcomes. The benefits orders of overall survival (OS) from largest to least were salvage liver transplantation (SLT), repeat hepatectomy (RH), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). For the benefits of recurrence-free survival (RFS), SLT and RH remained the top two treatments. Subgroup analysis of smaller (≤3 cm) and larger (>3 cm) tumour reached similar results. Consistency and heterogeneity analysis did not show significant inconsistency and heterogeneity. DISCUSSION: Our findings demonstrated that SLT and RH were the best two treatments for rHCC. Nevertheless, the selection of strategies should also depend on tumour characteristics and basic health situation.

Robot-Assisted Partial Splenectomy for Splenic Epidermoid Cyst.

The splenic cyst is a rare disease with unknown etiology. The inner wall of the cyst has lining epithelium. The cyst can be unilocular or multilocular. According to pathology, it can be divided into four types: epidermoid cyst, dermoid cyst, cystic lymphangioma, and cystic hemangioma. Ultrasound examination is often the first choice for splenic cysts because of its nonradiation, low cost, and convenient examination. The images are mostly cystic masses with clear borders and dark areas without echoes, after the detection of splenic space-occupying lesions by ultrasonography, CT, and MRI. Here, we report robot-assisted partial splenectomy for a splenic cyst. Imaging diagnosis of abdominal CT enhancement: the cystic space-occupying of the spleen is considered. We should improve the preoperative examination and exclude operative contraindications. During the operation, there was about 8 cm of the upper pole of the spleen, and the boundary was clear. There was no obvious abnormality in the exploration of the abdominal viscera. The operation was successful. The operative time was 115 minutes, and the blood loss was 20 ml. On the first day after the operation, the patient took a liquid diet. The time of first anal exhaust was on the second day after operation. The patient was discharged at the fourth day. Postoperative pathology revealed epidermoid cyst. The therapy strategy of the splenic cyst is ambiguous. Better understanding of the splenic segmental anatomy and surgical skills has made minimally invasive partial splenectomy a preferred treatment for splenic cysts. In this paper, we report a case of splenic epidermoid cyst managed successfully by robot-assisted partial splenectomy.