[Laparoscopic Liver Resection for Elderly Patients with HCC]

Laparoscopic surgery is less invasive and has better cosmetic results. Laparoscopic liver resection(LLR)was covered by health insurance in April 2010, and has increasingly been performed in many hospitals, and also in cases of elderly patients. We report the results of laparoscopic liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)in patients ≥80 years old. From June 2010 through March 2016, 237 cases of laparoscopic hepatectomy for HCC were performed in our hospital, and 35 of 237 cases were patients ≥80 years old(the elderly group). The operation time in the elderly vs the non-elderly group was 321 minutes vs 340.9 minutes(p=0.4676), the blood loss was 447.2mL vs 331.5mL(p=0.6691), and the hospital stay after the operation was 18 days vs 16 days(p=0.6347). The 3 year disease free survival rate for stage I was 66.7% vs 58.6%(p= 0.1849), for stage II was 35.6% vs 31.8%(p=0.7538), for stage III was 33.3% vs 49.5%(p=0.8683), and for stage IV was 100% vs 32.4%(p=0.3452). Laparoscopic hepatectomy for HCC can be performed safely, even for patients ≥80 years old. Further studies are necessary to confirm the benefits of laparoscopic liver resection for elderly patients compared with the non-elderly.