Diagnosis and treatment of hepatolithiasis

Abstract

Hepatolithiasis is a common disease of abdominal surgery, although its incidence appears to decline, China is still a high incidence area with millions of patients with hepatolithiasis. Because of the complex pathogenesis, progressive development and frequent recurrence, it is seriously affecting physical and mental health of patients and quality of life, as well as difficult to define the diagnosis and select treatment methods for hepatolithiasis. The Guideline of the Diagnosis and Treatments of Hepatolithiasis and the Expert Consensus of the Laparoscopic Treatments of Hepatolithiasis (2013 edition) proposed a concise and practical classification system of the hepatolithiasis and summarized the principles of surgical treatments, which includedresecting the lesions, cleaning the stones, correcting the stricture, recovering the drainage and preventing the recurrence. Meanwhile, the application of laparoscopic technique in the treatments of hepatolithiasis was proposed, which played an important role to promote the standard diagnosis and treatments of hepatolithiasis in China. Recent years, more and more evidences from evidence-based medicine further proved the importance of the anatomical hepatectomy in the treatments of hepatolithiasis. With the soaring development of laparoscopic surgery, the combination of laparoscopic hepatectomy with the assistance of other endoscopies are applied more and more frequently. The concept of precise surgery also brings new vitality to the standard diagnosis and treatments of the hepatolithiasis. Key words: Hepatolithiasis; Diagnosis; Therapy