Liver resection for benign hepatic lesions: A retrospective analysis of 827 consecutive cases

AIM: To analyze the operative and perioperative factors associated with hepatectomy of benign hepatic lesions. METHODS: A total of 827 condecutive cases of benign hepatic lesion undergoing hepatectomy from January 1986 to December 2005 in the Chinese PLA General Hospital were investigated retrospectively according to their medical documentation. RESULTS: The effect of operative and perioperative factors on the outcome of patients were analyzed. Of the 827 cases undergoing hepatectomy for more than 3 liver segments accounted for 22.1%, 316 (38.21%) required transfusion of blood products during operation. The average operating time was 220.59 +/- 109.13 min, the average hospital stay after operation was 13.55 +/- 9.38 d. Child-Pugh A accounted for 98.13%. The postoperative complication rate was 13.54% and the in-hospital mortality rate was 0.24%. Multivariate analysis showed that operating time (P = 0.004, OR = 1.003) and albumin value (P = 0.040, OR = 0.938) were the independent predictors of morbidity and indicated that operating time, blood transfusion, complication rate, and LOS had a trend to decrease. CONCLUSION: Hepatectomy for benign hepatic lesions can be performed safely with a low morbidity and mortality, provided that it is carried out with optimized perioperative management and an innovative surgical technique. (C) 2008 The WJG Press. All rights reserved.