A feasible and safe treatment for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma in elderly patients

Conventional hepatectomy is an effective way to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is invasive and stressful. Laparoscopic surgery, a kind of minimally invasive surgery, has recently gained considerable advances. The use of laparoscopy in hepatectomy, while technically demanding, reduces surgical invasiveness and stressfulness but still achieves complete resection with adequate margins.

A research team, led by Professor Tan To Cheung from The University of Hong Kong reported a laparoscopic hepatectomy treating HCC and its recurrence in an aged cirrhotic patient and describes the surgical techniques therein. Their study will be published on January 28, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Their report displayed characteristic results of laparoscopic hepatectomy such as smaller wounds, less blood loss, less pain, less scars and adhesion, shorter postoperative hospital stay, and faster recovery. It is a comparatively less invasive procedure that offers a chance of surgical clearance of tumors. Further studies with greater numbers of patients and longer follow-up are needed for a better perspective regarding the role of laparoscopic hepatectomy in the management of HCC.

Reference: Cheung TT, Ng KK, Poon RT, Chan SC, Lo CM, Fan ST. A case of laparoscopic hepatectomy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2010; 16(4): 526-530

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/16/526.asp

Correspondence to: Tan To Cheung, Associate Consultant, Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, 102 Pok Fu Lam Road, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China. tantocheung@hotmail.com

Telephone: +852-28553025 Fax: +852-28165284

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H. pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.