Surgeons Use Transplant Surgery to Remove Tumor

Surgeons in the United States used transplant surgery to first remove and then replace multiple abdominal organs in the same person so that they could reach and cut out a tumor in a female patient who had a rare form of cancer.

Surgeons at the University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center (UM/JMMC, FL, USA) undertook the 15-hour operation of 63-year old Brooke Zepp, who suffered from leiomyosarcoma, a rare type of tumor, which affects smooth muscle. The tumor was deep inside her abdomen, wrapped around her aorta and two other arteries that supply blood to the abdominal organs, including the intestines. The patient had already been through chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but neither had been successful and the cancer had persisted. In most cases, the tumor would have been classed as inoperable.

The surgical procedure involved removing six organs--the stomach, pancreas, spleen, liver, and large and small intestines--from the abdomen to allow doctors to go after a malignant growth, which were continuously cooled following the excision. The tumor was then quickly removed, together with the blood vessels that were attached to it. The surgeons then replaced some of the removed sections of artery with artificial Gore-Tex blood vessels and proceeded to re-implant the removed organs back into the abdomen. The removed organs were outside of the body for about 90 minutes.

"It is very risky and definitely one of the most challenging surgeries of my career,” said lead surgeon transplant specialist Tomoaki Kato, M.D. "The patient is making a good recovery; she is considered cured at this point, but only time will prove its long-term efficacy.”


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University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center