Laparoscopic Right Hepatectomy Via an Anterior Approach for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Establishment and validation of a predictive nomogram for severe pleural effusion in liver cancer patients after hepatectomy

This study aims to develop and validate a predictive nomogram for severe postoperative pleural effusion (SPOPE) in patients undergoing hepatectomy for liver cancer. A total of 536 liver cancer patients who underwent hepatectomy at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery I of the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2022, were enrolled in a retrospective observational study and comprised the training dataset. Lasso regression and logistic regression analyses were employed to construct a predictive nomogram. The nomogram was internally validated using Bootstrapping and externally validated with a dataset of 203 patients who underwent liver cancer resection at the Department of General Surgery III of the same hospital from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022. We evaluated the nomogram using the receiver operating characteristic curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. Variables such as drinking history, postoperative serum albumin, postoperative total bilirubin, right hepatectomy, diaphragm incision, and intraoperative blood loss were observed to be associated with SPOPE. These factors were integrated into our nomogram. The C-index of the nomogram was 0.736 (95% CI: 0.692-0.781) in the training set and 0.916 (95% CI: 0.872-0.961) in the validation set. The nomogram was then evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. The nomogram demonstrates good discriminative ability, calibration, and clinical utility.

Clinical efficacy and safety of 3D vascular reconstruction combined with 3D navigation in laparoscopic hepatectomy: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Meta-analysis was used to compare the difference between 3D reconstruction technology and 2D computed tomography (CT) before surgery for primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) and to systematically evaluate the application value of 3D vascular reconstruction and 3D navigation technology in guiding precise liver resection for PHC. However, there are still many controversies in this aspect, and there are no clear conclusions on the effectiveness and safety of three-dimensional vascular reconstruction combined with three-dimensional navigation in laparoscopic hepatectomy. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically review the results of previous studies with meta method in this study to determine their clinical efficacy and complications and guide clinical treatment.

Methods

We used the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals Full-Text Database (VIP), and Wanfang database to conduct an online search for data from randomized controlled trials of preoperative 3D reconstruction versus conventional CT in hepatectomy published up to October 2021. Relevant literature was selected based on the inclusion criteria, data was extracted, and quality evaluation of the included literature was carried out. I² test was used to evaluate heterogeneity among the studies, and Cochrane risk of bias 2.0 was used to evaluate the studies.

Results

A total of 16 studies were included in this study. Meta-analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences between the 3D vascular reconstruction group and conventional surgery group in operation time [mean differences (MD) =-40.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): -74.94, -5.26, P=0.02, I²=78%, Z=2.26] and intraoperative blood loss (MD =-50.40, 95% CI: -62.93, -37.86, P<0.00001, I²=9%, Z=7.88), but no statistically significant difference was found in total days in hospital (MD =-0.39, 95% CI: -1.81, 1.03, P=0.59, I²=76%, Z=0.54), and postoperative complications rate (OR =0.98, 95% CI: 0.64, 1.50, P=0.91, I²=0%, Z=0.11).

Discussion

Preoperative 3D reconstruction plays an important role in preoperative evaluation and surgical planning, which improves the operation time of PHC and reduces the intraoperative blood loss, but no effect to length of stay in hospital or complication rate comparing to conventional 2D techniques.

Is the anterior approach suitable for laparoscopic right hemihepatectomy in patients with large HCC (5-10 cm)? A propensity score analysis

BACKGROUND

Right hemihepatectomy via the anterior approach was initially employed to improve the survival of patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To date, the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic right hemihepatectomy via the anterior approach (ALRH) for patients with large HCC remains unclear; thus, we compared short-term and long-term outcomes between ALRH and open right hemihepatectomy via the anterior approach (AORH).

METHODS

161 patients with HCC who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria in our department were enrolled in this study between January 2015 and August 2018. Perioperative and oncological outcomes were compared using propensity score matching analysis (PSM).

RESULTS

There were 45 patients in the ALRH group and 116 patients in the AORH group. After 1:3 PSM, 40 ALRH patients and 95 AORH patients were well matched. The intraoperative time was longer in the ALRH group than in the AORH group after PSM (median, 297.5 vs. 205 min, P < 0.001). However, ALRH led to less intraoperative blood loss than AORH after PSM (median, 265 vs. 350 ml, P = 0.049). The rates of overall complications (12.5% vs. 30.5%, P = 0.028) in the ALRH group were significantly lower than those in the AORH group after PSM. Moreover, the survival outcomes were equivalent between the two groups with regard to 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates (P = 0.698) and disease-free survival rates (P = 0.510).

CONCLUSION

ALRH could be safe and feasible for some patients with large HCCs (5-10 cm) when performed by experienced surgeons, and it had superior perioperative outcomes and equivalent oncological outcomes to AORH.

Pure laparoscopic right hepatectomy: A risk score for conversion for the paradigm of difficult laparoscopic liver resections. A single centre case series

BACKGROUND

Converted laparoscopic hepatectomies are known to lose some advantages of the minimally-invasiveness, and factors are identified to predict patients at risk. Specific evidence for laparoscopic right hepatectomy is expected of usefulness in clinical practice, given its technical peculiarities. The purpose of the study was the identification of risk factors and the development of a risk score for conversion of laparoscopic right hepatectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Laparoscopic right hepatectomy performed at a single hepatobiliary surgical center were analyzed. The cohort was split in half to obtain a derivation and a validation set. Risk factors for conversion were identified by uni- and multivariable analysis. A "conversion risk score" was built assigning each factor 1 point and comparing the score with the conversion status for each patient. The accuracy was assessed by the area-under-the-receiver-operator-characteristic-curve.

RESULTS

Among 130 operations, 22 were converted (16.9%). Reasons were: 45.5% oncologic inadequacy, 31.8% bleeding, 9.1% adhesions, 9.1% biliostasis, 4.5% anaesthesiological problems. Independent risk factors for conversion were: previous laparoscopic liver surgery (Hazard Ratio 4.9, p 0.011), preoperative chemotherapy ( Hazard Ratio 6.2, p 0.031), malignant diagnosis (Hazard Ratio 3.3, p 0.037), closeness to hepatocaval confluence or inferior vena cava (Hazard Ratio 4.1, p 0.029), tumor volume (Hazard Ratio 2.9, p 0.024). Conversion rates correlated positively with the score, raising from 0 to 100% when the score increased from 0 to 5 (Spearman: p 0.032 in the derivation set, p 0.020 in the validation set). The risk of conversion showed a sharp increase passing from class 3 to 4, reaching a probability estimated between 60 and 71.4%. The score showed good accuracy (area-under-the-receiver-operator-characteristic-curve 0.82).

CONCLUSION

Specific risk factors for conversion are identified for laparoscopic right hepatectomy. This score may help in standardizing the choice of a pure laparoscopic or open approach for such challenging resections.