Laparoscopic resection reduces superficial surgical site infection in liver surgery.

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic liver resection is beneficial compared to open liver resection. This study aimed to evaluate whether laparoscopic liver resection could reduce postoperative infections. METHODS This study included 125 and 115 patients with liver tumors who underwent open and pure laparoscopic partial resections or left lateral sectionectomies, respectively. Propensity score matching and stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting were carried out to compare the postoperative infectious complication rates between the two groups. RESULTS Patients with tumors located in Couinaud segment 1, 7, or 8; with tumors adjacent to major vessels; or who underwent repeated resections were more likely to receive open resection. After propensity score matching, the superficial incisional surgical site infection rate tended to be lower in the laparoscopic liver resection group than in the open liver resection group. Moreover, overall infectious complication rate and superficial incisional surgical site infection rate were lower in the laparoscopic group (the cohort formed by the stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting). CONCLUSIONS Using the laparoscopic approach for partial resections and left lateral sectionectomies for liver tumors, the superficial incisional surgical site infection rate could be reduced.