Surgical treatment for HCC – Special reference to anatomical resection

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the invitation extended to me as one of the lecturers for the festschrift in honor of Professor Renzo Dionigi. Naturally, as surgeons, we strive hard every day, handling difficult operations, to save lives. However with the rise in awareness of patient rights, we are ever more often made to defend ourselves in court. Therefore, the completion of a full-term professorship may be another proof of Professor Dionigi’s clinical excellence. While also being fortunate enough to retire safely six years ago at the age of 60 fromprofessorship at the University of Tokyo, I am still full of strength and zeal to carry on as an active surgeon, so that I find myself in the operating room three times a week leading the HPB and Organ TransplantationDepartment of the JapaneseRedCrossMedical Center in liver resection and living donor liver transplant operations, hoping that the younger generation of surgeonswill learnwhat they can from my performances. The basic of surgical treatment for cancer is to remove the tumor en bloc from as far away from the malignant tumor itself. Gastrointestinal cancer will require accurate and meticulous lymph node dissection. In Japan, the late Dr. Tamaki Kajitani had initiated lymph node dissection for gastric cancer in the late 1940s. At that time, most surgeons were skeptical to the idea. However, 25 to 30 years later, lymph node dissection is acknowledged as being one of the effective surgical procedures for improving long term survival in patients with gastric cancer.