Treatment to reduce liver cancer tumours is world’s first, Hong Kong researchers claim
- University of Hong Kong team says a new treatment they developed cured a 65-year-old man of late-stage liver cancer
- Research team used ‘reduce and remove’ treatment, which allows patients previously ineligible for transplant to undergo the operation
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have claimed to be the first in the world to prolong the life of a late-stage liver cancer patient by using a new treatment strategy that reduces the tumour to a state suitable for a transplant.
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine announced on Wednesday that researchers had cured a 65-year old resident of stage-four liver cancer by first shrinking the tumour using a “reduce and remove” treatment they had developed.
“There is actually no other effective treatment to shrink any stage-four cancer to stage one at the moment,” Professor Albert Chan Chi-yan, who co-led the research team, said. “This would be the first in the world.
“The recovery of the patient is encouraging. The team is honoured to provide new hope and possibilities for the treatment of liver cancer.”
Doctors said that in November last year 65-year old Wong Lok-wing had only about six months to live owing to a tumour measuring 18.2cm (7 inches) in diameter that had spread to his main portal vein, which transports blood to the liver.
To treat Wong, the research team used the “reduce and remove” treatment, which allowed patients previously ineligible for a transplant to undergo the operation.
The team used a combination of stereotactic body radiation therapy – a targeted tumour treatment – and immunotherapy to revert Wong’s tumour back to stage one.
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In August, Wong successfully underwent a 12-hour operation to receive a portion of liver provided by his son, Nathan, and he has remained cancer-free in the months since.
Liver cancer is the fifth most common and third-deadliest form of the disease in Hong Kong, accounting for 1,447 deaths in 2021, according to the Hospital Authority.
According to the team, less than a third of liver cancer patients were eligible for liver surgery or transplant – the only options available. All other patients had about a 30 per cent chance of surviving another five years, the team said.
Chan said that more than 100 patients in Hong Kong had been successfully treated using the “reduce and remove” strategy since 2019. The team published their findings in January.
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The treatment was especially useful for elderly patients and those who were not suited to high-risk, complex operations, he said.
Chan said the team was advancing their research by looking for “molecular markers” that could help identify patients who would respond well to the treatment.
The researchers were also exploring additional immunotherapy treatments in hopes of raising the rate of patient response to the treatment to 80 per cent, up from 50 to 60 per cent.
“We have confidence that we can continue this treatment, and our future direction is how we can … enhance the efficacy of this regime so that more patients can benefit,” Chan said.
