Laparoscopic liver resection with retroperitoneoscopy for the treatment of right dorsal liver tumors (with video).

Abstract

Right liver tumors involving the right adrenal gland or which are located close to the inferior vena cava (IVC) often make it difficult to mobilize the right liver during laparoscopic surgery. As an alternative approach, retroperitoneoscopy offers a relatively easy approach to the dorsal aspect of the right side of the liver and area around the IVC. Therefore, we combined laparoscopic liver resection with retroperitoneoscopy ("retlap liver resection") to exploit the benefits of these methods. The preceding retroperitoneoscopy can be used to obtain a dorsal margin, which is difficult to achieve using laparoscopy alone. In such cases, a retroperitoneoscopic approach can be applied to the dorsal side of the adrenal gland, without mobilizing the right liver. Six patients underwent retlap liver resection between 2020 and 2022 without operative complications. Because no previous reports have described laparoscopic liver resection with retroperitoneoscopy, we introduce our approach and provide a video of the procedure.