Surgical and oncologic outcomes following laparoscopic versus open liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis

Aim: Laparoscopic hepatectomy has become a common method for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nowadays, but the oncologic risks of laparoscopic liver resection for HCC are still under investigation. We performed a meta‐analysis to quantitatively compare surgical and oncologic outcomes of patients with HCC undergoing laparoscopic versus open hepatectomy. Methods: Systematic review and meta‐analysis of studies comparing laparoscopic with open liver resection for HCC. Two authors independently assessed study quality and extracted data. All data were analyzed using RevMan 5. Results: Ten studies comprising 627 patients were eligible for inclusion. The overall rate of conversion to open surgery was 6.6%. The laparoscopic group had significantly less blood loss by 223.17 mL (95% confidence interval [CI]: −331.81, −114.54; P