Single-port laparoscopy-assisted donor right hepatectomy in living donor liver transplantation: Sensible approach or unnecessary hindrance?

Background: Single-port laparoscopic (SPL) surgery has rapidly gained attention worldwide. Since May 2008, we have propagated the use of SPL surgery, mainly for cholecystectomy and appendectomy. Recently, we have used this modality of minimally invasive surgery for various liver surgeries. We hereby discuss our outcomes of SPL-assisted donor right hepatectomies. Methods: The preoperative workup is the same as for a standard donor hepatectomy. We retrospectively reviewed the data of 150 patients who underwent donor right hepatectomy from October 2008 to May 2011. We divided them into 3 groups depending on the type of surgical procedure. Results: Among 150 patients, 20 underwent laparoscopy-assisted donor right hepatectomy (LADRH); 40 underwent single-port laparoscopy-assisted donor right hepatectomy (SPLADRH); and 90 underwent open donor right hepatectomy (ODRH). The donor demographics were comparable among the groups. Postoperative complication and reoperation rates revealed no significant differences. The SPLADRH group showed the lowest level of postoperative pain, thereby leading to a better quality of life postoperatively. Conclusions: SPLADRH seems to be a simple, feasible approach.