A feasible and safe treatment for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma in elderly patients

Conventional hepatectomy is an effective way to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is invasive and stressful. Laparoscopic surgery, a kind of minimally invasive surgery, has recently gained considerable advances. The use of laparoscopy in hepatectomy, while technically demanding, reduces surgical invasiveness and stressfulness but still achieves complete resection with adequate margins.

A research team, led by Professor Tan To Cheung from The University of Hong Kong reported a laparoscopic hepatectomy treating HCC and its recurrence in an aged cirrhotic patient and describes the surgical techniques therein. Their study will be published on January 28, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Their report displayed characteristic results of laparoscopic hepatectomy such as smaller wounds, less blood loss, less pain, less scars and adhesion, shorter postoperative hospital stay, and faster recovery. It is a comparatively less invasive procedure that offers a chance of surgical clearance of tumors. Further studies with greater numbers of patients and longer follow-up are needed for a better perspective regarding the role of laparoscopic hepatectomy in the management of HCC.