Initial Experience with Laparoscopic and DaVinci Robotic-assisted Liver Resection

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Although laparoscopic surgery has become more popular, its technical difficulties have limited the applications of this technique to liver surgery. We report here on our experience with liver resection with perfoming laparoscopic assisted and DaVinci robot assisted hepatectomy. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 40 patients who underwent laparoscopic assisted and DaVinci robotic assisted hepatectomy at the Yonsei University Health System from January 2002 to January 2008. RESULTS: Thirty patients (75%) had malignancy and ten patients (15%) had benign disease. We performed Lt. hepatectomy (7.5%), wedge resection (17.5%), segmentectomy (30%) and Lt. lateral segmentectomy (45%). The rate of conversion to laparotomy was due to intraoperative bleeding was 10%. The complication and mortality rates were 7.5% and 0%, respectively CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic and DaVinci robot hepatectomy showed a reduced time to oral intake, a shortened hospital stay and a smaller incisional scar compared to open surgery. So, laparoscopic and DaVinci robot hepatectomy should be performed in selected patients as the postoperative status of the patients is better than that with performing open hepatectomy.