• Da-Wei Chen, Ronnie Tung-Ping Poon, Chi-Leung Liu, Sheung-Tat Fan, and John Wong.
• Department of Surgery and Centre for the Study of Liver Disease, The University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China.
• Surgery. 2004 Apr 1;135(4):386-93.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the perioperative and long-term results of hepatectomy for hepatolithiasis.Patients And MethodsImmediate and long-term outcomes of 103 consecutive patients with hepatolithiasis who underwent hepatectomy from 1989 to 2001 were analyzed. Immediate outcomes included stone clearance rate, operative morbidity, and mortality. Long-term results included stone recurrence rate and survival.ResultsThe immediate stone clearance rate was 90%, and the final stone clearance rate was 98% after subsequent choledochoscopic lithotripsy by cutaneous stoma or T-tube route. The operative morbidity and hospital mortality rates were 28% and 2%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that right hepatectomy (P=.006) and preoperative hyperbilirubinemia (P=.038) were predictive of postoperative complications. Ten patients (10%) had associated cholangiocarcinoma (four known preoperatively) at the time of hepatectomy. With a median follow-up of 56 months (range 6-158), recurrent stones developed in eight patients and cholangiocarcinoma developed in three patients (range: 7-30 months postoperatively). Sixteen patients had died during the follow-up period, none of recurrent cholangitis. Cholangiocarcinoma was the only significant prognostic factor of long-term survival by Cox regression analysis.ConclusionsHepatectomy is a safe and effective treatment for hepatolithiasis, with a high immediate stone clearance rate and a low long-term stone recurrence rate. The presence of associated cholangiocarcinoma is the main factor compromising long-term survival in patients with hepatolithiasis.

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