Laparoscopic hepatectomy for patients who received enterostomy

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic hepatectomy is more conducive to the rapid rehabilitation of patients after surgery compared with open hepatectomy. However, there have been no reports on performing laparoscopic resection for liver metastases in enterostomy patients. MATERIALS: From December 2016 to April 2017, the Liver Surgery Department of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital received three patients who had focal liver lesions after colorectal cancer surgery and enterostomy. We performed laparoscopic hepatectomy for these three patients and reviewed relevant literature. RESULTS: All of these three patients’ post-operative recovery was good. We found three different positions of the stomas and the corresponding abdominal adhesions in these three patients. We also summarised several possible related surgical techniques. CONCLUSION: For patients with colorectal cancer and enterostomy after an operation, implementation of laparoscopic hepatectomy is feasible. Further research is still required for a more comprehensive assessment of this surgical approach.