Laparoscopic hepatectomy versus open hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma in 158 patients: A prospective cohort study

BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks as the fourth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. With the development of minimally invasive surgical techniques, laparoscopic hepatectomy is becoming more prevalent in liver surgery. There are multiple reports to evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic liver resection. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on whether laparoscopic hepatectomy is better than open hepatectomy. The aim of this study is to compare the perioperative and postoperative long-term outcomes of open hepatectomy and laparoscopic hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma, and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the two surgical methods for hepatocellular carcinoma.MethodsA prospective cohort study of patients who underwent major hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma between October 2017 and September2018 was performed. And these patients were followed for 24 months after surgery. There are158 patients involved in the present study and they were randomly divided into two groups, LH group (n=60), and OH group (n=98). And all of 158 patients underwent hepatectomy. Continuous data were compared by one-way ANOVA, and categorical data were compared by Fisher’s exact test or the c2 test. Survival curves were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Union Hospital. (No. WHUH2018S002) and registered in the International Clinical Trial Registry (No. NCT03585166). Informed consent was signed by all patients.ResultsIncision lengths of LH (5.14±3.11cm) were shorter than OH(20.92±6.44cm), P<0.001. Operating time of LH (398.53±170.51 minutes) were longer than OH(257.74±91.31 minutes), P=0.003. Hospital stay of LH(17.72±5.82 days) were shorter than OH(21.42±8.44 days), P<0.001. The average hospitalization costs of LH group (82741.18±26128.81￥) were significantly less than OH group (94998.75±30499.64￥), p=0.011<0.05. The incidence of total complications was also lower in LH group than in OH group (P<0.001). Postoperatively, the leukocyte was significantly lower at 1st day in LH group (9.79±2.92G/L) than in OH group (12.6±4.85 G/L), p<0.001. The aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was significantly lower at 7th day in LH group (39.25±16.63 U/L) than in OH group (62.49±67.77 U/L), p=0.01<0.05. The albumin was significantly higher at 3rd day in LH group (34.21±3.94 g/L) than in OH group (31.24±5.23 g/L), p<0.001. The albumin was significantly higher at 7th day in LH group (35.26±3.73 g/L) than in OH group (33.31±4.51 g/L), p=0.006<0.05. Direct bilirubin was significantly higher at 1st day in LH group (10.28±10.70 µmol /L) than in OH group (315.03±15.71 µmol /L), p=0.04<0.05. The follow-up time after surgery was 24 months (1-24). The mean follow-up time after surgery was 17.94±9.132. Log rank test was performed to compare overall survival rates between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences with 2-year survival rate between LH and OH group for liver cancer patients, nor was disease-free survival.ConclusionsLaparoscopic hepatectomy surgery supplied a lower incision lengths, hospital stay and incidence of total complications. Laparoscopic hepatectomy was cheaper the open hepatectomy.There were no statistically significant differences with 2-year survival rate between the two group for liver cancer patients, nor was disease-free survival.