Review for 10.1186/s12876-018-0903-y (2018)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Stapleless laparoscopic left Lateral secti onectom y for hepatocellular carcinoma: 
reappraisal of the Louisville sta tement by a young liver surgeon  
 
Version: 1 Date: 11 May 2018  
 
Reviewer: Quirino Lai  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Stapleless laparoscopic left Lateral sectionectomy for hepatocellular c arcinoma: reappraisal of 
the Louisville statement by a young liver surgeon (BMGE -D-18-00231R1)  
 
 
The present study reports the data of a population of HCC patients coming from Taiwan treated 
with laparoscopic vs. open left lateral sectionectomy. The study i s of interest for the results and 
for the fact that the laparoscopic surgeon is a young surgeon, thus showing the feasibility of this 
procedure also when it is done by less expert hands.  
 
 
I have only two minor comments:  
 
1) The Authors report in "Statistic al analysis" the use of a multivariable Cox regression 
analysis, but the results of this statistical method are not present in the Results. Please 
report these results or remove the sentence in the "Statistical analysis" part.  
 
 
2) English is acceptable, bu t I suggest to further ameliorate it. Please provide a revision of it.  
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specif y which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
Are you able to assess any statistics  in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quali ty of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
 
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years rec eived reimbursements, f ees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any wa y gain or lose 
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents  relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbu rsements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relatio n to this paper?  
 
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have  no competing interest s' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the open peer review po licy of the journal. I understan d that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
respons es. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confid ential comments 
to the editor s, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal