Is laparoscopic mesohepatectomy superior to the open approach for patients with centrally located hepatocellular carcinoma?

Laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) has become a standard procedure for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as well as liver metastases and other benign and malignant liver tumors (1-3). Numerous cohort studies and their reviews or meta-analyses comparing LLR with open liver resection (OLR) for HCC frequently have serious selection biases in terms of the differences in the size, number, tumor location, and malignancy degree (4-6).