BGS Global Hospitals, Bangalore, part of the Global Hospitals Group performed a major liver surgery for metastatic cancer through the keyhole surgery procedure.

The right lobe of the liver of the patient was completely removed by totally avoiding a major open resection of liver by a team of surgeons from the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and Minimal Access Surgery lead by Dr G Srikanth.

The patient aged 69 years was distraught when he was diagnosed to have recurrence of cancer in the liver. He went through the ordeal of surgery for rectal cancer and post-operative chemotherapy just one year before. Now his follow-up scans clearly indicated that he had a metastatic liver cancer in the right lobe. His whole body after PET scan showed no evidence of disease elsewhere. Surgical removal of the right lobe of liver would give him an opportunity for cure. But he was distressed to learn about the need for a second surgery for his current problem.

The surgical removal of the right lobe of the liver afflicted with cancer was performed laparoscopically. This is the first of its kind, major resection of liver performed by minimal invasive surgery in Karnataka. In fact the number of centres in the country offering laparoscopic liver surgery is just handful. The surgery was performed through five small incisions of 0.5 inch each and the right lobe of liver of size 15 cms x 12 cms was removed through a 2.5 inch incision, stated Dr Srikanth.

The minimal invasive or key hole surgery allow the patients several benefits  like smaller incision, less scarring which fades with time, less post-operative pain, fewer wound related complications, early recovery, lesser  chance of infections, fewer pain killers, early mobilization and short stay at the hospital.

Laparoscopic surgery of the liver is extremely challenging and considered the ‘holy grail’ of laparoscopic surgery. It requires a dedicated team of Surgeons, Anesthetists and Intensivists with requisite support facilities, operation theatres, ICU and infrastructure. However, this option of minimally invasive surgery is an encouraging choice for metastatic liver cancer, stated Dr Srikanth.

It is important to highlight that there is a misconception that 'when metastasis to liver occurs in colo-rectal cancer it is incurable’. The fact is that in selected patients, cure is still possible. Since many of the patients presenting with metastasis in the liver from colon and rectal cancer have previously undergone a surgery for removal of the primary cancer, when metastasis are detected at follow-up as in the patient highlighted, a minimally invasive liver surgery is a very encouraging option for these patients who need to undergo re-operation, he said.

BGS Global Hospitals is a multi-speciality tertiary care hospital focused on neurosciences, haepatology and multi-organ transplantation, cardiac sciences, urology and nephrology, gasteroenterology, minimally invasive and bariatric surgery, orthopaedics, oncology, critical care and trauma. The hospitals advanced infrastructure includes 14 major speciality operating rooms, more than 120 intensive care beds and a comprehensive emergency care and trauma unit. It’s Liver and Transplant ICU is the largest available across the state of Karnataka.