Laparoscopy or open surgery for the treatment of hydatid cyst?

The laparoscopic approach has taken a prominent role in the last decades for various surgical conditions, including liver hydatid cyst. However there is controversy about whether it can replace open surgery. Using Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified three systematic reviews which together include four relevant studies, all nonrandomized. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded it is unclear whether laparoscopy for hepatic hydatid cyst reduces mortality, morbidity or recurrence compared with open surgery because the certainty of the evidence is very low.