New technique boosts regrowth in liver cancer patients

The Queen Mary Hospital has introduced a new technique that has already helped save the lives of six liver cancer patients, including a child aged six.

Surgical tumour removal is one of the most effective treatments for liver cancer, thanks to the liver's ability to regenerate.

However, where the cancer is in the larger right lobe, cutting this part of the liver away creates a high risk of liver failure in patients with a small liver or poor liver function.

Now, using an ultrasonic dissector, the two lobes can be initially just separated, allowing the smaller left lobe to grow with the main blood vessel attached, while the right lobe is still able to function. After seven to 10 days, when the left liver is large enough, the right lobe is then removed.

"Some of the patients who previously could not undergo the surgery can now have it done because of this new technology," said Professor Ronnie Poon Tung-ping, head of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at the University of Hong Kong.