Laparoscopic liver resection is a feasible treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and portal hypertension

Aim: To compare outcomes of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and portal hypertension (PHT) who underwent laparoscopic liver resection (LLR), open liver resection (OLR) or radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Patients and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 88 patients with primary HCC and PHT who underwent LLR (n=20), OLR (n=48) or RFA (n=20) and analyzed their outcomes by treatment group. To reduce selection bias, covariate distributions in groups were adjusted using inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW). Results: Five-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) was significantly better in the LLR and OLR than in the RFA group both before and after IPTW adjustment. The OLR group had significantly more postoperative complications than the RFA group; however, there was no significant difference in the postoperative complication rate between LLR and RFA groups. Conclusion: LLR may be a feasible treatment for patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage 0 or advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (A HCC) and PHT.