In what has been described as a first for the region, a local surgical team, headed by Dr George Petrou, has demonstrated that the laparoscopic approach for liver resection is safe and feasible for a patient with benign or malignant liver tumor.
This “groundbreaking successful operation” took place at the Port Macquarie Base Hospital last week.
Only surgeons with specialist focused training in liver anatomy and surgery are able to perform this surgery safely and successfully in Australia.
Dr Petrou is the first high volume liver cancer surgeon to perform liver surgery outside of a major city in Australia.
The liver is a complex vascular organ which has a crucial role in coordinating nutrition into metabolic function.
The liver also filters the blood and, as a result, it acts as a physical barrier to cancer cells in the blood stream.
In Australia, the most common cancer to deposit in the liver is colorectal cancer.
The second most common cancer to afflict Australians is colorectal cancer, and most of these patients die because of their liver secondaries.
If the cancer secondaries are able to be surgically removed before they penetrate the liver barrier, up to 70 per cent of selected patients can be cured.
Other cancers which can be cured with liver surgery are hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma), cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile ducts) and gallbladder cancer.
“Port Macquarie Base Hospital offers state of the art staging with high definition CT and MRI to carefully select patients for liver surgery,” a statement from Dr George Petrou read.
“It also provides a dedicated multidisciplinary team consisting of specialist medical oncologist, interventional radiologist, intensive care specialists and specialist registered nurses who work together with Dr Petrou in managing these patients.
“Port Macquarie is now the definitive specialist liver cancer service in the North Coast Area Health Service.
“This means that patients on the NSW Mid-North Coast and North Coast have access to state of the art life saving treatment and no longer have to travel vast distances, away from their families and loved ones, to access such treatment.
“Minimally invasive surgery has transformed the approach of many surgical procedures, reducing associated pain, hospital length of stay, and achieving comparable results with open operations.
“The operative time is comparable between laparoscopic hepatic resection and open hepatic resection.
“A substantial reduction in blood loss and shorter postoperative hospital stay are associated with the laparoscopic approach.
“Reduction in postoperative narcotic use and a faster return to normal activities can also be expected in patients undergoing laparoscopic liver resection.
“Other potential advantages of the laparoscopic approach include earlier resumption of therapies associated with healing cancer (eg, chemotherapy) and decreased liver dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis.”
