Liver Cancer Surgery

Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, occurs when there is the uncontrolled growth of cells in the liver that leads to the formation of tumours. The most common types of liver cancer are hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma. Surgery is often used as a treatment when the cancer is localized and has not spread to other parts of the body. Kolkata, a bustling city in eastern India, has witnessed significant advancements in healthcare infrastructure, making it a prominent destination for liver transplants. This surgery performed by an experienced and best surgical oncologist in Kolkata. The type of surgery depends on the size and location of the tumour.

Evaluating Candidacy for Liver Cancer Surgery 

Not everyone with liver cancer is a candidate for surgery. Surgical oncology doctors evaluate several factors to determine if surgery can successfully remove the cancer. These include:

• Overall health and liver function. Surgery is risky if the liver is severely damage from cirrhosis or other diseases.
• Several tumours are present. If there are multiple tumours, surgery may not remove them all. 
• The location of tumours that have grown into major blood vessels or other vital structures often can not remove.
• Whether the cancer has spread. Metastasis to nearby lymph nodes or other organs generally rules out surgery.

Goals and Types of Liver Surgery

The main goal of liver surgery for cancer is to completely remove the tumour along with a surrounding margin of normal liver tissue. This helps ensure no cancerous cells get left behind. Types of surgery include:

Hepatectomy: Removing part of the liver. This preferred when possible as it preserves liver function. The volume that can remove safely depends on how well the rest of the liver is working.

Liver Transplant: Removing the entire cancerous liver and replacing it with a healthy donor liver. This allows extensive tumours throughout the organ to remove.

Liver cancer surgery resection Procedures  

The common techniques to perform liver cancer  surgery include:

Laparoscopic Liver Resection : 

The surgeon makes several small incisions and inserts a tiny camera and instruments to cut out the tumour. This is minimally invasive but only appropriate for small peripheral tumours.

Open Liver Resection: 

The surgeon makes one large open incision across the abdomen to directly access and cut out the tumour. They preferred for large or difficult-to-reach tumours.

Radiofrequency Ablation: 

Using electrical energy to heat and kill tumours without removing them. It is done laparoscopically or during open resection if tumours are widespread.

Ex Vivo Liver Surgery: 

Removing the whole diseased liver, cutting out tumours, and then transplanting that liver back into the patient. A way to make extensive resection possible.

Facing the Financial Realities of Blood Cancer Surgery

A blood cancer diagnosis can be devastating for patients and families both emotionally and financially. While emerging treatments provide hope, the costs associated with complex surgeries and aftercare can still present significant economic challenges. Understanding the key drivers behind these expenses can help patients better navigate their options.

Basic criteria of cost :

At the most basic level, blood cancer surgeries aim to remove cancerous cells and tissues from the body. However, they tend to be much more involved than standard tumor removal operations. Most patients undergo very delicate procedures like bone marrow transplants, which replace diseased marrow with healthy marrow from a donor. These complex surgeries require specialty operating rooms, customized medical equipment, and teams of highly skilled personnel. The rare nature of expertise and materials leads to steep surgical costs often exceeding $500,000.

After initial procedures, costs continue accumulating through extended inpatient care and recovery periods. Hospital rooms, physician consultations, pharmaceuticals, and monitoring all contribute to monthly bills. Additionally, since patients have essentially no immune system after surgery, isolation units or frequent disinfection services add major expenses. In total, expenses in the first year can easily exceed $1 million.

Ongoing costs persist too for medications, home care, transportation, medical devices, and follow-up appointments. Specialist visits and testing occur more frequently for the first 5 years as doctors monitor for complications or recurrence of cancer. While crucial, these appointments result in patients paying thousands per year after surgery.

The final impact of cost :

In the end, blood cancer treatments save lives, but place immense financial stress on families. Having transparent discussions with medical teams can assist greatly in navigating costs. Establishing payment plans, identifying assistance programs, and reviewing insurance options helps limit economic impacts. Still the journey remains challenging - patients deserve all the support we can offer.

Here are some common myths about blood cancer surgery:

1. Blood cancer surgery is always successful and cures the cancer. This is a myth - while surgery can be an effective treatment option for certain blood cancers if caught early, it does not guarantee a cure, especially if the cancer has already spread. Success rates depend on the type and stage of cancer.
2. Blood cancer surgery is a simple procedure. Blood cancer surgeries like bone marrow transplants are extremely complex, risky procedures. They involve high doses of chemotherapy and radiation ahead of time to essentially "kill" the remaining cancer cells and bone marrow. This leaves the patient without an immune system or the ability to make new blood cells until the transplant is successful.
3. If you need a donor for a transplant, it's easy to find one. There is only a 25-30% chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor, even if the patient has siblings. Matching requires extreme compatibility of tissue types between donor and patient. So most patients unable to use their own stem cells have a very difficult time finding a donor match.
4. Transplant patients can go home quickly after surgery. Recovery periods are extremely long - weeks to months spent isolated with no immune system. Serious and life-threatening complications like graft vs host disease, infections, bleeding, and organ damage are also common after transplant. Close medical supervision is necessary.
5. The costs are covered by insurance. While insurance does cover some procedure costs, there are still often large out-of-pocket expenses for things like high-dose chemotherapy, laboratory testing, hospital stays, and anti-rejection medications that patients must pay even with insurance. Long-term care is also expensive.

Knowing the facts around complexity, success rates, recovery, availability of donors, and costs paints a more accurate picture to make informed treatment decisions. Proper expectations set the stage for the best possible outcomes.

Recovery and Results

Recovery time after liver surgery varies from weeks to 6+ months depending on how extensive the resection had to be. Possible complications include bleeding, infection, and liver failure if the remaining liver cannot meet the body’s needs. Mortality risk today is 5% or less. you can find a highly prominent Surgical oncologist with affordable liver transplant cost in Kolkata.

For patients receiving a liver transplant, anti-rejection drugs are required lifelong. Transplants have a 65-70% 5-year survival rate. Other liver resections can successfully remove localised cancer with a 5-year survival of over 50%, especially if tumours are small. Even if cancer recurs, surgery can provide effective control and prolong survival. Results continue improving with advancing surgical techniques and technology.

The future looks promising for liver cancer surgery. Doctors now better understand how to select patients, perform complex resections safely, and reduce complication rates. Combined with other treatments like chemotherapy, ablation, embolization, and targeted drug therapies, surgery delivers improved cure rates and lets patients with liver cancer survive longer than ever.