ISMETT: 8-Kilogram Liver Tumor Removed from Woman.

Sicilian Center Ranks among the Top 10 Italian Centers for Number of Minimally Invasive Liver Resections.

For years she had traveled to specialized hospitals in northern and central Italy, but with no success; the enormous liver tumor that was making her life impossible could not be removed. The young mother from Termini Imerese, near Palermo, was eventually referred to ISMETT, in Palermo, where she underwent liver resection surgery to remove the 35-centimeter tumor mass weighing 8 kilograms. The woman is now doing well, and was discharged home nine days after the operation, according to Dr. Salvatore Gruttadauria, Director of ISMETT’s Department for the Treatment and Study of Abdominal Diseases and Abdominal Transplantation.

A total of 1,300 liver resections have been performed at ISMETT, with an average of 100 resections per year over the last two years. “A liver resection, which is the first treatment option for many liver tumors, consists in the surgical removal of part of the organ,” Dr. Gruttadauria explained. “Operations of this type are possible thanks to a Sicilian network that combines the activity of multidisciplinary teams, within which surgeons, anesthesiologists, hepatologists, radiologists, and endoscopists work together.”

The excellence of the ISMETT team, formed mainly by young Sicilian surgeons specialized in liver surgery, was also confirmed by two important accomplishments this year: the recognition of ISMETT as a Regional Reference Center for Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Tumors (by Decree of the Regional Health Care Commission dated May 29, 2019), and the ranking of ISMETT among the top 10 Italian centers (out of the 60 that were surveyed) for number of liver resections performed with minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, as reported in the August 2019 report of I Go MILS, the Italian Group of Minimally Invasive Liver Surgery.