GALVESTON, Texas - A new type of liver surgery that minimizes blood loss has been performed at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. It was the first time that this particular type of surgery was performed at UTMB.
Doctors used a special, high-frequency device that literally coagulated part of a patient's liver allowing the resection of a tumor.
"We simply would not have had the ability to treat this patient before," said Garland D. Anderson, dean of UTMB's School of Medicine. "I am proud that we can now offer innovative tertiary care in this type of situation."
Dr. Luca Cicalese, director of the new Texas Transplant Center at UTMB, successfully removed a part of a patient's liver containing the tumor, using these new high-technology medical tools in a minimally invasive surgical procedure.
The laparoscopic liver surgery was done using a radiofrequency ablation-assisted method that "allows cutting the liver with minimal blood loss, making it more attractive and safe than the techniques used before," Cicalese said.
Laparoscopic surgery, also called "belly button" surgery, is a method by which a surgeon uses very small openings to pass instruments into a patient's abdomen to perform the operation. RFA-assisted surgery is a method by which heat that is generated by a high frequency device literally coagulates diseased tissue.
The patient, 31-year-old Jalaine Thumann of Galveston, also had her gall bladder removed.
Cicalese noted that numerous departments at UTMB contributed to the successful operation.
"We are establishing a new hepatobiliary program in parallel to our new liver transplant program at UTMB with a multidisciplinary approach with an excellent team of doctors from surgery, gastroenterology/hepatology, radiology and oncology and other specialties allowing us to offer innovative therapies for GI and liver tumors not always available in Texas," Cicalese said.
Dr. Courtney M. Townsend, chairman of the Department of Surgery, said, "This is evidence of our continuing attempt to develop and apply new ways to improve surgical procedures and adds another technique to our ability to provide comprehensive treatment of liver diseases."
Thumann said her pain and discomfort prior to surgery "felt like my torso was being squeezed. I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't sleep at night. I couldn't do anything."
She decided to have the laparoscopic surgery after speaking with Cicalese, who has performed this type of surgery before.
She had the surgery on Nov. 13 and spent Thanksgiving at her parents' house. "I was able to eat and get around and walk around. I was going up and down the stairs like nothing had ever happened."
"I have very little scarring at all. The worst one is a two-inch scar and it's still healing," Thumann said. "I imagine it's going to be barely even visible once it heals."