New surgical options are speeding up recovery times for liver cancer patients, helping them move forward in their treatments more quickly. Minimally invasive surgeries have improved outcomes for many, but those benefits have not made their way to all cancer patients at the same rates, according to Allan Tsung, MD, the director of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the OSUCCC – James. “Minimally invasive surgery has really changed the way that surgeons work,” Tsung says. “However, it's been slowly developed for liver cancer — the reason being that these are usually more complicated and more technically challenging cases.” Through robotic procedures and other innovative techniques, however, doctors at Ohio State are increasing the availability of minimally invasive surgeries to liver cancer patients. “Everyone at The James is evaluated to see if they're candidates for minimally invasive surgery,” Tsung says. “Our goal is to have normal recovery for our patients as soon as possible — many of whom have to undergo certain other treatments such as chemotherapy. We need them recovered before they can get that chemotherapy, so getting them back to their normal lives is very important to us.”