Since the robotic surgical system was first launched in 2005, the number of robotic surgery has been gradually growing in Korea. The proportion of general robotic surgery is relatively higher than the western countries, but robotic liver resection, especially living donor right hepatectomy is one of the most complex procedures among robotic general surgery. Since its introduction in 1994, living-donor liver transplantation (LDTL) was the standard treatment for both hepatocellular carcinoma and for patients with the end-stage liver disease. Our hospital started robotic living donor program in 2016. Since then, more than 70 cases of robotic living donor hepatectomy have been successfully performed.
In this video, we introduce our current standardized procedure of robotic living donor right hepatectomy from hilum dissection, parenchymal transection, bile duct division to caudate lobe transection, also the ligation of vessels. In addition, we explain how to manage unexpected events during robotic surgery and our journey to expand the indication of donors from favorable to unfavorable anatomy.