Laparoscopic vs. open surgery for treating benign liver lesions: assessing quality of life in the first year after surgery

Laparoscopic liver surgery has not yet gained widespread acceptance among liver surgeons. Some questions remain regarding indications to surgery and health related quality of life (HRQOL) after surgery, especially for the treatment of benign lesions, has so far not yet been investigated. The aim of this study is to evaluate HRQOL at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after surgery in two groups of patients undergoing liver resections for benign liver lesions either by laparoscopic or open surgery. From January 2004 to September 2010 75 patients underwent surgery (29 laparoscopic, 46 open) for benign liver lesions. We retrospectively compared surgical results of the two groups and evaluated HRQOL with the SF-36 test. A personal or telephonic interview was administrated for the assessment of HRQOL before surgical treatment and at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. Sixty six patients (88%) were available for the study. The length of stay (4.7 vs. 8.2 days, p = 0.0002), the reprisal of oral intake (II post-op vs. III post-op, p = 0.02) the number of transfused patients (2 vs. 8, p = 0.1) and the overall rate of morbidity (p = 0.06) were lower in the laparoscopic group. HRQOL was significantly better in the laparoscopic group in the first year after surgery. Surgical treatment for benign liver lesions, when indicated, should be laparoscopic. This approach shows a lower rate of surgical complications with a better quality of life after surgery and a faster reprisal of social and job activities.