Pioneering surgeon on crucial operation
The pioneering surgeon preparing to operate on Danielle Roseweir yesterday explained the life-saving procedure.
Professor Long R Jiao, a senior surgeon based at Imperial College London, said: “The survival rate without surgery for secondary liver cancer from large bowel cancer is no more than five years.
“With surgery, the current five-year survival for this group of patients is around and over 75%. “One of the reasons that patients are not considered for surgery is insufficient liver volume, meaning patients will be at risk of developing liver failure after an operation.
“The two-stage hepatectomy technique is carried out in two operations allowing the liver to regenerate between operations. “We use a new technique using radio frequency to divide the liver. This allows the remaining healthy liver to increase by 83% within two to four weeks to allow surgeons to cut out the cancerous parts. “Furthermore, robotic surgery was also introduced by us to liver and pancreatic surgery in the UK. Liver and pancreatic operations are technically extremely difficult, with less than 5% cases performed minimally invasively.
“The advantage of robotic surgery allows us to perform more complex and difficult tasks with ease in liver and pancreatic surgery. “By combining surgical innovation and cutting-edge technology, we are aiming to provide patients with firstclass care and improve outcomes of patients with liver and pancreatic cancer.”