To evaluate the long-term clinical efficacy of BiClamp-assisted liver resection in a single center.

Clinical data of 156 patients undergoing BiClamp-assisted liver resection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from July 2007 to July 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. Among them, 123 patients were male and 33 female, aged 32-68 years with a median age of 50 years. According to the use time of BiClamp, patients undergoing operation before December 2008 were assigned into the early phase group (n=72) and those from July 2010 to July 2012 were allocated into the late phase group (n=84). All the operations were performed by the same operation team. The liver parenchyma was resected by using BiClamp combined with a high-frequency electrotome. The porta hepatis was occluded with Pringle maneuver. The operation time was compared by t test, and the rate comparison was conducted by Chi-square test.

No perioperative death occurred in both groups. In the early phase group, the operation time was (185±51) min and the length of postoperative hospital stay was (10.0±3.1) d, which did not significantly differ from (169±45) min and (9.3±2.7) d in the late phase group (t=0.50, 0.36; P>0.05). The occlusion rate of porta hepatis and blood transfusion rate in the late group were 63% (53/84) and 14%(12/84), significantly lower than 89%(64/72) and 32%(23/72) in the early group (χ2=17.90, 17.40; P<0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications was 24%(20/84) and 24%(17/72) in two groups, where no significant difference was observed (χ2=2.53, P>0.05).

BiClamp-assisted liver resection is a safe and reliable was for lobectomy. Long-term skilled application contributes to lowering the occlusion rate of porta hepatis and intraoperative blood transfusion rate.