Survey Shows Surgeons Hesitant on Cell Salvage in Liver Cancer

Surgeons are familiar with intraoperative cell salvage (ICS) but use it sparingly during liver resections for cancer due to concerns about tumor cell contamination, indicating a need for more robust oncological outcome data.

• 26 hepatopancreatobiliary surgeons reported moderate to high familiarity with ICS (23/26) and occasional use (23/26), but only 10 used it during liver cancer operations.
• Most cited oncologic safety as a barrier, and 20/26 expressed that long-term outcome data would boost their confidence in using ICS.

Surgeons are willing to participate in trials to assess ICS safety, highlighting a potential path forward in its adoption if safety concerns are addressed.