Many forms of cancer are on the decline in the United States, unfortunately, liver cancer is not one of them.
In fact, the number of Americans diagnosed with liver cancer has doubled in the last decade. Liver cancer happens when another type of cancer (colon, lung and breast) metastasizes from another organ into the liver.
Usually the best treatment option for patients with localized liver cancer is a surgical resection. During this procedure, the cancerous part of the liver is removed. Up to 75 percent of the liver tissue can be removed safely. Patients usually stay in the hospital for about five days after the procedure, and are completely recovered after five to six weeks.
The resected liver regenerates to its original size in six to eight weeks. The tricky part of performing the surgery itself is that there are two major blood sources flowing to the liver at all times - a large vein coming from the intestines and a large artery. Because of the constant blood flow, the liver is sometimes described as a sponge for blood, making it difficult for surgeons to make incisions. Now, two new surgical tools are changing that.
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Liver cancer
Surgeons are using a new method to remove diseased portions of the liver that cuts recovery time in half.
 
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Instead of using a scalpel to cut the liver tissue, surgeons are now using a new device called the cavitational ultrasonic surgical aspirator (CUSA®). The CUSA® is an instrument with a hollow titanium tip that vibrates and transfers energy upon contact with tissue. The energy fragments the cells at the sight of contact aspirating them, or sucking them in. Ideally, all the cancer cells would be sucked in, leaving only healthy cells and a skeleton of blood vessels. Using this tool, tissue damage is confined to a much smaller area than it would be using a scalpel.
Currently an adaptation of the CUSA® tool is in the works to make it usable for laparoscopic surgeries as well as open surgeries.
