At St Panteleimon Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv, surgeons together with colleagues from Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 1 performed an almost 13-hour operation to remove a liver cancer tumour that had grown into three hepatic veins and the inferior vena cava. In total, no more than ten such interventions are carried out in Ukraine per year.
Mrs Liliia, a 63-year-old resident of Lviv, sought medical help complaining of pain in the stomach area. During an ultrasound examination, doctors noticed a suspicious mass, and a CT scan confirmed the diagnosis — the patient was found to have an 8-centimetre cholangiocarcinoma. This is a malignant tumour of the bile ducts, which can form both inside the liver and outside it.
The location of the tumour made the situation much more complicated: due to the involvement of the hepatic veins and the inferior vena cava, it was impossible to perform a standard radical resection. To carry out this extremely complex operation, a team of surgeons and anaesthetists from Kyiv, who have relevant experience in using transplantation techniques, were invited to Lviv.
During the procedure, two teams worked together at every stage. First, the specialists completely disconnected the liver from the blood circulation and cooled the organ, using techniques usually applied in transplant surgery. After this, the doctors removed the tumour and reconstructed the affected veins. The operation lasted almost 13 hours and, according to the doctors, was successfully completed.
«I am happy that I was saved! When I learned about the diagnosis, at first I did not even want to fight, because I understood how complex my case was and that very few would dare to operate on me. I was afraid that if something went wrong, I would become a burden to my loved ones. Fortunately, everything is fine today», says the patient, Mrs Liliia.
The First Medical Association of Lviv notes that this kind of intervention was her only chance of survival, as with such a diagnosis there are virtually no alternative treatment options. The association provides a full cycle of modern care — from diagnosis and treatment to complex operations, rehabilitation and prosthetics. Its structure includes St Panteleimon, St Luke, St Nicholas and St Anna hospitals, the UNBROKEN rehabilitation centre and outpatient clinics.