Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The introduction of minimally invasive surgical techniques presents the potential to avoid unnecessary laparotomies in many patients with hepatic malignant neoplasms by improving the accuracy of staging with laparoscopic inspection in addition of laparoscopic ultrasound. Laparoscopic inspection alone has proved to be a useful adjunct to pre-operative imaging studies in evaluation of hepatic malignant neoplasms for potential resection and identification of extrahepatic nodal or peritoneal involvement. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common primary liver cancer, occurs in 90% of the cases in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). In recent years, its incidence has increased as consequence of chronic hepatitis C virus infections. The optimal treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma is surgical resection. However, only a small percentage of patients are operative candidates. Therapeutic options with curative intent for small HCC in patients with CLD include hepatic resection,local ablation (ethanol injection, microwave, radiofrequency) and liver transplantation. Laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (LRFA) appears to be safe procedures with low rates of morbidity and mortality when indicated. Laparoscopic liver resection is technically challenging,however laparoscopic liver resection has increased over the past decade, with several thousand cases now reported.

• Share this page
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Last date updated on April, 2024