[Bile leakage after liver resection: A retrospective cohort study].

INTRODUCTION

Many previous reports have focused on bile leakage after liver resection. Despite the improvements in surgical techniques and perioperative care the incidence of this complication rather keeps increasing. A number of predictive factors have been analyzed. There is still no consensus regarding their influence on the formation of bile leakage. The objective of our analysis was to evaluate the incidence of bile leakage, its impact on mortality and duration of hospitalization at our department. At the same time, we conducted an analysis of known predictive factors.

METHOD

The authors present a retrospective review of the set of 146 patients who underwent liver resection at the Department of Surgery of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University and Central Military Hospital Prague, performed between 20102013. We used the current ISGLS (International Study Group of Liver Surgery) classification to evaluate the bile leakage. The severity of this complication was determined according to the Clavien-Dindo classification system. Statistical significance of the predictive factors was determined using Fishers exact test and Students t-test.

RESULTS

The incidence of bile leakage was 21%. According to ISGLS classification the A, B, and C rates were 6.5%, 61.2%, and 32.3%, respectively. The severity of bile leakage according to the Clavien-Dindo classification system - I-II, IIIa, IIIb, IV and V rates were 19.3%, 42%, 9.7%, 9.7%, and 19.3%, respectively. We determined the following predictive factors as statistically significant: surgery for malignancy (p<0.001), major hepatic resection (p=0.001), operative time (p<0.001), high intraoperative blood loss (p=0.02), construction of HJA (p=0.005), portal venous embolization/two-stage surgery (p=0.009) and ASA score (p=0.02). Bile leakage significantly prolonged hospitalization time (p<0.001). In the group of patients with bile leakage the perioperative mortality was 23 times higher (p<0.001) than in the group with no leakage.

CONCLUSION

Bile leakage is one of the most serious complications of liver surgery. Most of the risk factors are not easily controllable and there is no clear consensus on their influence. Intraoperative leak tests could probably reduce the incidence of bile leakage. In the future, further studies will be required to improve the perioperative management and techniques to prevent such serious complications. Multidisciplinary approach is essential in the treatment.