Laparoscopic caudate lobe resection for the treatment of hepatolithiasis

BACKGROUND: To explore the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic caudate lobe (CL) resection for the treatment of hepatolithiasis. METHODS: A retrospective study of nine patients who received laparoscopic CL resection for treatment of hepatolithiasis in our hospital from January 2013 to April 2017. Of these cases, we studied the patients’ demographic data, the operation time, blood loss, post-operative hospital stay, post-operative complications and prognosis. RESULTS: All the nine cases are performed successfully; the post-operative recovery was symptom free except for one case of post-operative bile leakage. Among them, there were six cases of CL resection in combination with other lobe, three cases of separate CL resection, and three cases of whole CL resection. The average operative time was 310 min (Range: 180–450 min), the average intraoperative blood loss was 530 ml (Range: 100–1000 ml), average post-operative hospital stay was 9 days (Range: 6–13 days), average total hospital stay was 10 days (Range: 9–19 days). Intraoperative calculi exhaustion rate was 66.7% (6/9), which at the end of treatment was 88.9% (8/9). No cases had calculi recurrence. CONCLUSION: The application of laparoscopic CL resection is feasible and safe.