Purpose: We wanted to evaluate the clinical courses and outcomes of the patients that underwent laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy at one center during 13 years. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of the patients who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy, including laparoscopic-assisted hepatectomy, at the Department of Surgery, St. Mary's Hospital, the Catholic University of Korea from Jan. 1995 to Dec. 2007. We compared open hepatectomy and laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy for the cases of left lobectomy and left lateral sectionectomy. We performed laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy in two stages. First, we fully mobilized a hemiliver with laparoscopy, and then an incision was made at the location where we could perform an easy approach. Liver parenchymal resection was done through that laparotomy incision. Results: There were 242 patients who underwent hepatectomy during 13 years. Laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy was done 77 cases. Left lobetomy and left lateral sectionectomy with the laparoscopic assisted method and the open method were performed in 52 and 37 cases, respectively. There was no significant difference between two methods for the operating time, the hospital days, the complications and the tumor resection margin. Though there was no statistic difference, the number of hospital days was shorter with performing laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy than with performing open hepatectomy (11±7.8 vs 14.1±6.5, respectively). Conclusion: In this study, we found that laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy was a feasible operation for achieving an early recovery. However, prospective randomized trials are required to determine any significant difference of laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy from the open method. This laparoscopic assisted hepatectomy procedure can be done by the surgeon who is just beginning to perform laparoscopic hepatectomy.

Keywords: Hepatectomy, Laparoscopy, Outcome