Objective:To evaluate the feasibility of abandoning prophylactic abdominal drainage in patients undergoing minimally invasive minor hepatectomy based on a propensity score matching (PSM) study.Methods:Retrospective review of a prospectively collected database of patients undergoing minimally invasive minor hepatectomy from July 2022 to May 2023 at the Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital. A total of 108 patients were enrolled, including 48 males and 60 females, aged (60.8±13.7) years old. According to whether the abdominal drainage tube was prophylactically placed intraoperatively, patients were divided into two groups: the drainage group (with prophylactic placement of abdominal drainage tubes, n=76); the no-drainage group (without prophylactic placement of abdominal drainage tubes, n=32). PSM was used to compare the perioperative data between the groups, including extent of liver resection, intraoperative blood loss, operative time, and postoperative complications. Postoperative survival status within 90 days was followed up through telephone review. Results:Before PSM, the two groups differed significantly on age and the history of hypertension (both P<0.05). After PSM, there were 23 patients in each group. Patients in the two groups showed comparable results regarding the intraoperative parameters including the surgical method, pathological types, the number and maxium diameter of hepatic lesions, the extent and complexity of liver resection, and the duration of hepatic inflow occlusion (all P>0.05). No postoperative intra-abdominal bleeding occurred in either group. The incidences of postoperative complications were comparable between the groups, including fever, bile leakage, incision infection, and abdominal acupuncture for drainage (all P>0.05). After PSM, compared to patients wothout prophylactic abdominal drainage, prophylactic abdominal drainage group showed a decreased white blood cell counts on postoperative day 1 [9.39(6.30, 10.58)×10 12/L vs. 13.19(10.15, 14.90)×10 12 /L, P=0.006] and a shorter length of postoperative hospital stay [4(3, 5) d vs. 5(4, 5) d, P=0.033]. No postoperative death within 90 days occurred in either group. Conclusion:In minimally invasive minor hepatectomy, abandoning prophylactic abdominal drainage could be feasible, which facilitates fast recovery without increasing the incidence of postoperative fever, perihepatic fluid accumulation and postoperative abdominal acupuncture for drainage.