Minimally Invasive Surgery in Liver Transplantation: From Living Liver Donation to Graft Implantation
Eleni Avramidou,
Konstantinos Terlemes,
Afroditi Lymperopoulou,
Georgios Katsanos,
Nikolaos Antoniadis,
Athanasios Kofinas,
Stella Vasileiadou,
Konstantina-Eleni Karakasi,
Georgios Tsoulfas
Affiliations
Eleni Avramidou
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantinos Terlemes
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Afroditi Lymperopoulou
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Katsanos
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Nikolaos Antoniadis
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Athanasios Kofinas
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Stella Vasileiadou
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantina-Eleni Karakasi
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Tsoulfas
Department of Transplant Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, 54642 Thessaloniki, Greece
Since the end of the 20th century and the establishment of minimally invasive techniques, they have become the preferred operative method by many surgeons. These techniques were applied to liver surgery for the first time in 1991, while as far as transplantation is concerned their application was limited to the living donor procedure. We performed a review of the literature by searching in Pubmed and Scopus using the following keywords: Liver transplantation, Minimally invasive surgery(MIS) living liver donor surgery. Applications of MIS are recorded in surgeries involving the donor and the recipient. Regarding the recipient surgeries, the reports are limited to 25 patients, including combinations of laparoscopic, robotic and open techniques, while in the living donor surgery, the reports are much more numerous and with larger series of patients. Shorter hospitalization times and less blood loss are recorded, especially in centers with experience in a large number of cases. Regarding the living donor surgery, MIS follows the same principles as a conventional hepatectomy and is already the method of choice in many specialized centers. Regarding the recipient surgery, significant questions arise mainly concerning the safe handling of the liver graft.
