Extensive Liver Resection: Can It Be Applicable to Laparoscopic Surgery?

Due to major technical barriers, the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic hepatic resection is not well established. Laparoscopic liver resection has been described. Wedge resections or marginal resections rather than more formal hepatic resections for benign diseases only have been described lately. Anatomic hepatic resection and nonanatomical resection were also reported. But the technique still needs to be standardized and applied in a large-scale population. During the last 20 years, there has been a trend toward direct control of hepatic injury by adequate debridment of nonviable hepatic tissue along nonanatomical lines. The trauma experience emphasized two important concepts: the search for the most expedient method of hemorrhage control in the nonstable trauma patient, and a hepatic resection that need not be based on precise anatomic planes. The aim of this paper is to present the data and instruments available to apply toward laparoscopic liver resection.