MCG Health Pioneers Treatment for Liver Cancer

Wanda Jimperson will have two noncancerous sections of her liver removed, but thanks to a procedure called laparoscopic liver resection she will have a shorter hospital stay and a faster recovery time. Wanda was experiencing severe chest and back pain, when her doctor detected a non-cancerous growth in her liver.

Fewer than 100 laparoscopic liver resections are done at hospitals across the United States every year, but MCG Health recently performed the first such surgery in the region. The new program promises to offer patients with resectable liver cancer a better treatment option, including much smaller scars. Even though Wanda’s growth is noncancerous, this procedure is still an effective treatment option.

Liver resection, or the surgical removal of liver tumors, is the procedure of choice when liver cancer is found early. A resection is most commonly performed through open surgery, via a 15- to 30-inch opening stretching underneath the ribs from one side of the body to the other.

With the laparoscopic, or minimally invasive procedure at MCG Health, physicians enter the abdominal area with three or four Band-Aid-sized incisions. Plastic tubes, or ports, are inserted through these incisions, and the abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide to help surgeons better visualize the organs. A camera, fiber-optic light source and long, narrow instruments are also inserted through the ports so physicians can identify and remove tumors. Using a special port, surgeons can also insert a hand into a three-inch incision to assist in the tumor removal.

Hospital stays after minimally invasive resection are usually four to five days, compared with seven to 10 days for open surgery. Recovery time is also usually much quicker than the average six to eight weeks with open surgery. Patients have returned to work in as quickly as two weeks.

“Minimally invasive liver resection has been found to be as safe and effective as an open procedure in properly selected patients,” says Dr. Todd Merchen, who along with Dr. James Kruse performs the procedure at MCG Health. Dr. Merchen studied these types of procedures with Dr. Joseph Buell of the University of Cincinnati, one of the country’s most advanced laparoscopic liver surgeons. “The benefits, combined with the much smaller scars, make it a better treatment option for patients who are able to undergo liver resection for their cancer.” Dr. Merchen is one of only 6 physicians in the country to teach this technique, and serves the entire Southeast region.

Liver cancer strikes more than 19,000 in the United States every year, with nearly 17,000 deaths annually. Chronic liver infections (such as hepatitis), cirrhosis of the liver, being male and being older than 60 are risk factors for the disease. Because early liver cancer has no symptoms, patients who are at risk should discuss this concern with their doctor, who may plan a schedule for checkups.