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Expanding Transplantation for Patients with Liver Cancer
Expanding Transplantation for Patients with Liver Cancer
Liver cancers are unique in that liver transplantation offers the best long-term outcomes for patients who cannot have surgery. Lack of awareness and education about transplantation for liver cancer is often the reason why patients do not even hear about it throughout their cancer journey. Sudha Kodali, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Medical Director for the Liver Tumor Program, says that early evaluation for liver transplantation can expand this potentially beneficial treatment to patients who historically would have been ineligible or who present late in their disease course. For patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation has traditionally been offered only when tumors fall within a size limit, as size has been used as a proxy for risk of recurrence.
Sudha Kodali, MD
Dr. Kodali and her team work to get patients with liver cancer evaluated and listed for transplant, especially patients with larger tumors, as long as the cancer is contained within the liver. Similarly, Dr. Kodali and team at Houston Methodist and collaborators at MD Anderson Cancer Center have shown that select patients with favorable tumor mutational profiles and no cancer spread beyond the liver can benefit from liver transplantation for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer emerging from within the liver that has traditionally been considered a contraindication for transplantation. Accordingly, Houston Methodist is one of only a few elite centers nationwide that offers liver transplantation for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Dr. Kodali pairs her research with raising community awareness and educating referring physicians, who may not consider transplant for their patients with liver cancer. With an early referral and evaluation, more patients with liver cancers may benefit from transplantation.