Surgeons from University of California, San Diego, have pioneered a promising new surgical option for patients with certain liver cancers.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, a team of surgeons led by Dr. Jason Sicklick used an existing ostomy site from a previous operation for stage 4 colon cancer, through which they inserted natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) instruments into the abdomen to treat metastatic liver cancer.

“Classically, we use large or multiple incisions to remove liver tumors,” Dr. Sicklick, a surgical oncologist at the university’s Moores Cancer Center, said in a prepared statement. “But with this hybrid approach, we were able to use NOTES tools and an existing small incision from the patient’s colon surgery to remove the liver tumor without additional incisions.”

The lesion was removed with clear surgical margins, and the patient was discharged four days after the procedure.

Watch a short video in which the surgeons describe the case.

— Doug Brunk (on Twitter @dougbrunk)