Transplantation – current thoughts

Dr Shahid Khan of Imperial College London, recently commented (Jan 2012) on the current situation re liver transplantation for CC :

“Liver transplantation for CC has been performed but resulted in poor outcomes with early cancer recurrence and high death rates and so is not performed by most centres worldwide. However, transplantation may become an option again in the future, as we have seen data from some centres in the USA who have performed liver transplants for a small minority of CC patients with very early stage disease and who have achieved good long-term survival.  However, transplantation for CC is unlikely to be used routinely in the UK or Europe until further studies on its effectiveness have been shown in other centres.”

This comment was made following Dr Khan’s visit to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA, in the autumn of 2011, where he joined Dr Christopher Wadsworth, Specialist Registrar in the Liver Unit at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington and a Clinical Research Fellow at Imperial College London, who was there to study the Mayo’s liver transplantation practice.

Dr Wadsworth, who has clinical and research interests in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer of the liver and bile ducts, was awarded a St John Ambulance Air Wing Travelling Fellowship in Transplantation which enabled him to spend some time at the Mayo Clinic with Professor Gregory Gores, Professor Lewis Roberts and their team.

Dr Wadsworth has kindly shared his report on that visit with AMMF – it includes his impression of the Mayo Clinic, the transplant process used for CC, and his conclusions.  To read it, click here