Why is liver cancer mostly detected in the late stage?
Because the liver lacks pain receptors, it is a ’mute organ’. Cancer cells continue to grow, and when you can feel pain, it’s often too late.

Why is advanced liver cancer difficult to treat?
Some people wonder, isn’t it enough to cut off the cancerous part of liver cancer? It’s not that simple. There are usually two reasons why radical resection is not possible:
① Insufficient remaining liver capacity: Most liver cancers develop from underlying liver diseases. After chronic liver disease invades the liver and the cancerous site is removed, the remaining liver capacity is insufficient to undertake all the work.
② Cancer cells have spread: Cancer cells will not gather together obediently. They have spread to various parts of the liver, and doctors cannot dig the liver into a sieve here and there one by one.

So how to stage a ’reversal of the wind’ in the late stage of liver cancer?

Hepatitis B dragged into liver cancer in 30 years
Malignant tumor erosion, unable to undergo surgery

Lao Chen (pseudonym) is 51 years old and a diligent manual laborer. At the end of last year, he felt pain in his upper right abdomen for three days before coming to Sami Medical.
When Lao Chen described his medical history, the doctors in the Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Vascular Intervention Department couldn’t help themselves: "I found hepatitis B 30 years ago, but there was no treatment..."
The examination results were even worse than expected: multiple malignant tumors had grown in Lao Chen’s liver, with the largest tumor measuring 9.4 cm in diameter and accompanied by multiple metastatic lesions that had invaded functional blood vessels.
Due to the erosion of multiple tumors, if a radical resection surgery is performed to remove all tumors, the remaining liver volume of Lao Chen will be less than 18% of the standard liver volume.
Usually, after radical resection, at least 30% of the liver must remain for the patient to maintain normal liver function. However, Lao Chen also has cirrhosis, and after surgery, he needs at least 40% liver surplus to survive.

Transform first, then proceed with surgery
Transforming non resectable into resectable

Unable to undergo surgery, what should I do? Director Wang Yuanxi of the Department of Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Vascular Intervention decided to stabilize first and then take action - adopting a strategy of conversion therapy before surgery.

What is conversion therapy for liver cancer?

The transformation therapy for liver cancer is a treatment method aimed at unresectable liver cancer, which weakens the combat effectiveness of the tumor and cancer cells, and then surgically removes the tumor at an appropriate time. This plan is mainly aimed at liver cancer patients who cannot undergo direct surgical resection due to various reasons.
The goal of conversion therapy is to use a combination of multiple methods to reduce tumor size, increase residual liver volume, and transform liver cancer from unresectable to resectable.
In the following months, the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and vascular intervention team developed a comprehensive treatment plan for Lao Chen, including interventional embolization, local catheter infusion chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy, and immunotherapy.
This can effectively control or shrink tumors, or make some tumors disappear. The goal of treatment is to enable Lao Chen to achieve the standard of curative surgery, and the remaining liver volume after tumor resection can reach 40% of the standard liver volume.

Multiple metastases can be seen in the liver image of Lao Chen before transformation

Tumor shrinks, liver volume meets standard
The surgery was a complete success!

After several months of conversion therapy, Old Chen’s physical and mental condition improved significantly and he underwent another examination.
The re examination results are gratifying: the intrahepatic tumor has significantly shrunk, and the activity of intrahepatic metastatic lesions has significantly decreased.
Although it has not yet reached the surgical standard, the significant therapeutic effect has greatly enhanced Old Chen’s confidence in overcoming the disease and fully verified the feasibility of the conversion treatment plan.
With the deepening of treatment, Lao Chen had another follow-up examination at the end of February this year. This evaluation shows that the remaining liver volume after surgery can reach 42% of the standard liver volume. Lao Chen has reached the standard for curative resection surgery!

The continuous decrease in tumor biomarker (AFP) detection is not cold data for Lao Chen, but a miracle of life turned upside down against the wind

At the request of Lao Chen, Director Wang performed a radical resection of liver cancer for him. After the surgery, Old Chen recovered well and has been carefully cared for by Sami’s medical team. He has now recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

After one month of re examination, Lao Chen’s liver volume significantly increased and he successfully ’resurrected with full blood’

Finally, Director Wang Yuanxi reminds that for patients with chronic liver disease, it is crucial to face the disease squarely, pay attention to follow-up, and receive timely formal treatment, which can effectively prevent the development of liver cancer.

This article is reprinted from "Dingxiangyuan"

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