Liver Resection for Stage IV cc

My dad has had more than one spot removed from his liver surgically and had radiofrequency ablation (which is when they zap the spots on your liver without having to open you up). All of his have been successful. He has never had an entire lobe resected before. The only chance for cure is to have the cancer surgically removed. So, I would go with the second opinion. Good luck!

I am a stomach cancer patient with mets to the liver. My oncologist suggested a resection to be performed by a liver specialist. The surgeon thought that he would need to take about 50% or my right lobe. I had my resection on 5/12/05 and I am doing well. After he got in there he found that he could get both tumors and only took 25% of the liver. I am a 58 year old male, who came home 3 days after surgery with a lifting restriction for 6 weeks. Everyone's case is a little different, and mine has gone very well. I would suggest that you, if you haven't already, talk to a liver specialist. Good luck and may God be with your Mother.

Luis
I had half of my liver resected in Jan'04 and another little piece taken out a couple of weeks ago. The liver is amazing as it is the only organ that can regenerate. When they went in last time they said that my liver had regrown to the same mass as a normal liver. I had no problems with liver failure after either surgery. The recovery the first time was harder for me but this time I am at 80% of my normal feeling already. The feeling is if liver resection is possible it is the best way to go to get a complete cure.
Take Care
Barb

Hi Luis,
I was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer with liver mets last feb 04. I did 6 months of chemo before (FOL-FOX with Avastin), then had 60 % of liver removed (all of left lobe and past of right I believe). My outcome is that here I am writing this to you. The liver is the one organ that will regenerate. It may not get back to it's full size, but it will get back to full operating capacity. I also had a hepatic pump installed that gave me chemo to my liver for another 6 months. I finished chemo in early April. So far, so good. The surgery wasn't the most fun, the did a colon resection (no bag thankfully) and the liver suregery at the same time so it was a rough go for a bit. I did have a 'minor' problem with scar tissue fro the liver operation that caused a bowel obstruction. No unusual, really sucked. Had to go back in for another operation. But I went back to work in January, feel good, started kayaking and swimming most every day. It's important to have a good surgeon. I'm glad I had the resection, this way I'm pretty confident they got all of the cancer. Good luck to you and your Mom. If I can be of any other help, let me know
-Phil

Sorry for the delay in responding - I had a liver resection 8/98 for 1 met. They removed one lobe and some of the colon. I did have some pain after the surgery - I was in for 10 days - and they said that was mainly due to the liver resection as the colon does not have pain receptors. Other than that no liver problems at all. I went through 8 months of 5FU and leucovorin, 28 days of radiation and have been in remission since 1/99 - almost 7 years which is a small miracle for stage IV - maybe it will work for your mom.

Heidi