Resectable, borderline resectable and unresectable
The surgeon's verdict on whether the tumour can be completely removed. Resectable means yes; unresectable means it has wrapped around vital vessels, is too extensive or the patient is too frail; borderline means maybe, especially after chemotherapy shrinks it.
Resectability is judged on imaging by involvement of arteries and veins (pancreatic cancer's borderline definitions concern the superior mesenteric vessels), extent of nodal disease (N2-3 in lung cancer) and liver remnant volume, and is not the same as stage: some stage IV colorectal liver metastases are resectable and some stage II pancreatic tumours are not. Unresectable does not mean incurable: stage III lung cancer is cured by chemoradiation plus durvalumab in a third of patients, and 'conversion therapy' (FOLFOXIRI-bevacizumab in liver metastases, RAS inhibitors in pancreatic cancer) turns some unresectable cancers into resectable ones. Multidisciplinary review is required because surgeons differ in what they will attempt.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TermHepatectomy (liver resection)
Shares Downstaging and conversion therapy, Resection margins (R0 / R1 / R2), Hepatocellular carcinoma, Colorectal cancer.
- TermObstructive jaundice and biliary obstruction
Shares Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy), Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- InstitutionKoo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center
Shares Multidisciplinary tumour boards, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- TermPerineural invasion (PNI)
Shares Resection margins (R0 / R1 / R2), Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- InstitutionTaipei Veterans General Hospital
Shares Hepatocellular carcinoma, Colorectal cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- InstitutionPeking Union Medical College Hospital
Shares Multidisciplinary tumour boards, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- IdeaEvery routine CT scan checked by AI for early cancer signs, with a tracked follow-up pathway
Shares Hepatocellular carcinoma, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- InstitutionOsaka International Cancer Institute
Shares Hepatocellular carcinoma, Colorectal cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.