A woman with stage 4 bowel cancer received a successful liver transplant, offering hope for a cure. Her case highlights the potential of liver transplantation in treating advanced bowel cancer.
Bianca Perea was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2021. The cancer had spread to all eight segments of her liver. Initially given a poor prognosis, she responded well to drug-based treatment. Despite this, the disease remained in her liver. Because the cancer was so widespread, a liver transplant was the only option to remove it. Bowel cancer spreading to the liver complicates treatment.
Standard treatment for bowel cancer often involves surgery to remove tumors, along with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. For advanced bowel cancer that has spread to the liver, treatment becomes more complex. While cancer drugs and surgery can be effective, the disease often becomes incurable. Liver surgery is sometimes possible, but the cancer may be in areas too risky to remove surgically or too widespread to remove all tumors without leaving healthy liver tissue behind. Perea's success was likely due to a combination of treatments—targeted drug therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery to remove the primary bowel tumor before the transplant. She will require close monitoring, including for the possibility of microscopic cancer cells remaining undetected. Perea's case is not unique; liver transplantation has successfully cured bowel cancer in other patients. Evidence consistently shows that liver transplantation, used alone or with drug treatment like chemotherapy, improves survival rates for these patients.
Bowel Cancer Liver Transplant Cancer Treatment Immunotherapy Surgery
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