The CDC says liver cancer is on the rise among all adults, and has been for decades. But medical breakthroughs are providing new hope for patients -- including one that uses a robot in the operating room.
Watching him with horses, you’d never know Fran Azur is missing a third of his liver. It was removed a few months ago after a routine physical turned up something suspicious.
“I got the CT abdominal scan and it came back with a spot on my liver,” Azur said.
After a biopsy, Fran and his wife Melanie got the news no one wants to hear -- it was cancer.
Dr. Samer Tohme is with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“When we see a patient with liver cancer --whether it’s cancer that came from the liver or spread to the liver from another source -- the only cure is to cut it out,” Dr. Tohme said.
Traditionally, that would mean major surgery. The liver is located under the ribs, so surgeons have to maneuver around them. Dr. Tohme said new robotic technology is a game-changer.
“Using the robotic approach, we are able to operate on patients with bigger tumors, or a tumor in a more difficult location in the liver,” he said.
Here’s how it works. Surgeons make three or four small incisions and then insert ports that provide pathways for a camera and surgical instruments. Surgeons control the robot, whose many arms can reach areas not accessible otherwise. 3D images are sent back, allowing the surgeon to remove the cancer with precision.
It’s minimally invasive, which makes a big difference for patients.
“They have much faster recovery to go back home and back to work,” Dr. Tohme said.
“I had surgery on a Thursday afternoon,” Fran Azur said. “By the next afternoon, I was home again.”
Dr. Tohme said robotic surgery outcomes are as good as -- or better than -- traditional surgeries. Patients also spend less time under anesthesia, have less pain, and spend less time in the hospital. For Fran, it meant getting back home and back to life cancer-free.
“I used to have a cigar, I don’t do that anymore,” he said. “Other than that, relatively minor inconveniences. It’s amazing what they can do today.”
That particular procedure is offered at only a few centers in the United States. Atrium Health has a robotic liver surgery program in Winston-Salem, as well as 3D technology that helps surgeons target tumors.
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