Introduction : Living donor right hepatectomy is one of the complex liver resections because it requires the meticulous dissection of the liver hilum and the preservation of V5 and V8. Laparoscopic donor right hepatectomy has been performed in a few centers by expert surgeons. However, it is still a challenging procedure to many donor surgeons. Compared to laparoscopic hepatectomy, the robotic hepatectomy has the advantages in the meticulous dissection of the liver hilum, the posterior side of the right liver and the inferior vena cava. Therefore, we introduce our initial experience of robotic living donor right hepatectomy in this study.

Methods : From March 2016 to December 2016, ten liver donors received robotic right hepatectomy in our institute.

Results : The median age was 28 years (range, 18 – 35) and eight donors were male. The median total liver volume and graft volume were 1105.5 ml (range, 954-1374) and 669 mL (range, 517- 819), respectively. The median operative time and blood loss were 618 min (range, 541- 717) and 100 ml (range, 50- 320m), respectively. The median warm ischemic demarcation time was 13 mins (range, 9 -19). There was no perioperative transfusion. The first case was converted to mini-laparotomy (10%) due to injury to the left bile duct and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy was performed. Postoperative complication occurred in four patients (fever=1, voiding difficulty=1 and ileus=2). The median hospital stay was 9 days (range, 7-13 days).

Conclusions : From our early experience, robotic living donor right hepatectomy is feasible and can be safely performed in experienced hands.