Table 3.

Characteristics of included studies

Ref.	Level of evidence	Patient no.		Left/right	Recipients	TMI	TCI	Matching	Quality score
		MILDH	CLDH
Baker et al[13], 2009	3b	33	33	Right	W	LA	Midline epigastric	1, 2, 3, 4	7
Choi et al[16], 2012	2b	60	90	Right	W/O	LA	Right subcostal	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	8
Choi et al[17], 2014	4	25	484	Right	W/O	HAL or LA	Mercedes-Benz or L-shaped	NA	5
Kim et al[14], 2009	3b	23	23	Right	W	Upper midline	J-shaped	1, 2, 3, 4	7
Kim et al[18], 2011	3b	11	11	Left	W	L	J-shaped or midline	1, 3, 4, 5	7
Makk et al[19], 2014	2b	26	24	Right	W	LA	Right subcostal with midline extension	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	8
Marubashi et al[20], 2013	2b	31	79	Left	W	LA	Mercedes	2, 3, 4	7
Nagai et al[21], 2012	2b	28	30	Right	W	Hal or upper midline	Mercedes	1, 3, 4	7
Samstein et al[22], 2015	2b	22	20	Left	W	L	Midline	1, 2, 3	7
Soubrane et al[12], 2006	2b	16	14	Left	W	L	Subcostal	1, 3, 4	7
Suh et al[23], 2015	4	161	268	Un	W	LA or Upper midline	L-shaped	NA	5
Thenappan et al[15], 2011	3b	15	15	Un	W	LA or Minimally-access	Midline epigastric with subcostal	NA	6
Zhang et al[24], 2014	3b	25	25	Right	W	LA	Right subcostal	1, 2, 3, 4	7

MILDH: Minimally invasive living donor hepatectomy; CLDH: Conventional living donor hepatectomy; Left/right: Graft from left or right liver lobe of donors; Recipients: With or without analyzing recipients; TMI: Type of minimally incisions; TCI: Type of conventional incisions; W: With; W/O: Without; Un: Unclear or not only one kind; L: Laparoscopic approach; LA: Laparoscopy-assisted; HAL: Hand-assisted laparoscopic; Matching: 1 = gender; 2 = body max index; 3 = graft generation; 4 = age; 5 = haemoglobin; NA: No data available.