Publication

Background: Prognostic influences of hepatic transection by. an anterior approach using the liver hanging maneuver (LHM) has not been fully clarified. Methods: We examined 233 patients who underwent major hepatectomy with the LHM (n = 75; hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in 35, colorectal liver metastasis (CLM) in 10, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) in 14 and perihilar bile duct carcinoma (BDC) in 16) or without it (n = 158; HCC in 78, CLM in 21, ICC in 31 and BDC in 28). Results: In HCC patients, cancer-positive margin rate, blood loss, transection time and prevalence of posthepatectomy ascites in the LHM group were significantly lower than those in the non-LHM group (p < 0.05). In CLM, transection time in the LHM group was significantly lower than that in the non-LHM group (p < 0.05). In BDC patients, amount of blood loss, transection time and prevalence of ascites in the LHM group were significantly lower than those in the non-LHM group (p < 0.05). In CLM patients, tumor recurrence rate in the non-LHM group was significantly higher than that in the LHM group and disease-free survival in the LHM group was significantly better than that in the non-LHM group in CLM patients and, however, this difference was not observed in a large CLM exceeding 5 cm. However, significant, differences of posthepatectomy disease-free and overall survivals were not observed in HCC, ICC and BDC patients. Conclusions: Although advantages of LHM improving surgical records in major anatomical liver resections were clarified, oncological advantages in the long-term Survival of LHM was still uncertain in the hepatobiliary malignancies.