The impact of body mass index on short-term surgical outcomes after laparoscopic hepatectomy, a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Surgeons may expect technical difficulties and worse outcomes when performing laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) on obese patients. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on short-term surgical outcomes and to verify risk factors of conversion rate and complications of LH. METHODS: Data were collected from 551 patients who underwent attempted LH between August 1998 and April 2013. Patients were classified into four groups depending on their BMI according to the WHO’s definition of obesity for Asia-Pacific region: underweight <18.5 kg/m(2) (Group1); normal 18.5–23.9 kg/m(2) (Group2); overweight 24–27.9 kg/m(2) (Group3); obese ≥ 28 kg/m(2) (Group4) respectively. Short-term surgical outcomes were compared across the BMI categories. Possible risk factors concerned conversion rate and complications were analyzed. RESULTS: The overall conversion rate of the 551 patients was 13.07 %. Conversion rate for Group 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 14.3 % (n = 5), 11.2 % (n = 38), 13.0 % (n = 19), and 34.5 % (n = 10) respectively. Patients within the obese group had a much higher conversion rate. The overall complications rate was 11.98 %, where the complication for Group 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 22.9 % (n = 8), 12.7 % (n = 43), 18.2 % (n = 12), and 10.3 % (n = 3) respectively. Patients within the underweight group had a higher complication rate, but it did not reach statistic difference. Obesity and surgical site of left lobe were independent risk factors of conversion. Age, abdominal surgery history, and type of left and right lobe resection were independent risk factors for complications. CONCLUSIONS: In China, obesity increases risk of conversion rate but it dose not affect surgical complications and other short-outcomes after LH. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12871-016-0194-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.