A team of doctors from the University Clinical Center of the Republika Srpska performed procedures on two patients with liver tumors for the first time using a minimally invasive method. This is a procedure called transarterial hemoembolization of the liver. The procedures were successful.
The procedures were performed by a team of doctors from the Department of Clinical Radiology of the University Clinical Center of the Republika Srpska in a state-of-the-art angio-room under the supervision of Davor Mrdo, an interventional radiologist from the Clinical Center “Bežanijska kosa” in Belgrade.
Radiology specialist Mile Čučak told reporters that one patient has primary malignant cancer, and the other has metastatic colorectal cancer.
Čučak noted that this method is used in patients who are not candidates for surgery.
“This new method is a step that will contribute to the successful treatment of patients suffering from malignant cancers or metastases, or to prolonging their lives in cases where they are not candidates for surgery,” Čučak said.
He added that the new method is just an upgrade of the skills available at the Department of Clinical Radiology.
Mrda told reporters that the UKC of the Republic of Srpska has today been placed on the map of European oncology centers that deal with the most modern techniques for treating liver tumors.
“These procedures that we perform are not in contradiction with oncology therapy, but rather help each other, and therefore we provide patients with a better quality of life and better treatment,” Mrda specified.
General Director Vlado Đajić also thanked his colleagues from Serbia and associates from the UKC, emphasizing that he will do everything to ensure that what is applied in eminent centers in Europe and the world is applied at the UKC.
“The desire of our patients, and the future of medicine, is minimally invasive surgical interventions,” Đajić told reporters.
He emphasized that he is proud of the fact that the UKC is ready for many such interventions with its equipment, staff, knowledge, and willingness to educate.
Transarterial hemoembolization of the liver allows the maximum amount of drug to reach the tumor. A smaller amount of chemotherapeutic agent is released into the blood compared to the classic administration of chemotherapy through a vein. This is a much more comfortable method of treatment for patients.
