Postoperative Health Status and Quality of Life After Pure Laparoscopic Donor Hepatectomy for Living Donor Liver Transplantation

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic donor hepatectomy (LDH) for living donor liver transplantation has been performed in several specialized institutes. Surgical outcomes of LDH have shown comparable results to open donor hepatectomy (ODH), but the quality of life (QOL) after LDH is not known. This prospective questionnaire-based study was performed to assess health status and QOL of live liver donors before and after donor hepatectomy (DH). MATERIAL/METHODS: From May 2017 to February 2020, questionnaire items such as the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery mobility scale (EMS), Body Image Questionnaire, and EQ-5D-3L were examined up to 1 year after DH to respectively evaluate postoperative recovery, body image satisfaction, and health status. RESULTS: During the study period, 45 laparoscopic DH (LDH) donors and 2 open DH (ODH) donors were finally fully evaluated. The LDH group had a significantly higher mean EMS than ODH on postoperative day (POD) 5, and 7 (P=0.011, and P=0.004, respectively). Body image scores of the LDH group were significantly higher than that of the ODH group at 1 month after DH (17.8 vs 15.0, P=0.017). There were 45 LDH donors who recovered to preoperative values at 6 months and 1 month after DH, with no statistically significant difference in EQ-5D-3L index value and visual analogue scale (P=0.059 and P=0.217, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Within 1 month after DH, LDH donors showed faster mobility recovery and body image satisfaction to the level of preoperative status than ODH. LDH donors recovered to preoperative health status within 6 months, in accordance with previous studies of ODH donors.