The uniqueness of liver surgery in Aoup awarded in Sicily

Sicily rewards Aoup which planted the seed of the new organ-sparing liver surgery, restoring hope of cure to patients with colorectal metastases responding to chemotherapy but not operable with traditional surgical techniques. The occasion was the surgery last March when, in a patient in Pisa, a very small part of a healthy liver was grown to remove 55 metastases and the primary tumor in the left colon (this is the link: The exceptional nature of the surgical operation , which had a national media prominence, prompted the promoters of the “Per Bianca” Prize – scientific-literary competition created by the will of the “La Rosa-Cannizzaro” family and organized in Gela by the Betania OdV association and the Center for culture and spirituality Christian “Salvatore Zuppardo” with the patronage of the University of Catania and the Ersu-Regional Body for the right to university study of Catania – to award Dr. Lucio Urbani (right in photo), in charge of the liver surgery pathway of organ saving for Aoup metastases as a representative of the multidisciplinary team from Pisa that carried out that intervention. An award that therefore goes to the whole team, whose key to success is precisely the multidisciplinary group wanted by the Company Management, which has conceived and implemented unique strategies and surgeries in the world. Science and literature therefore united to bring attention to the doctor-patient alliance. In this third edition, the students who produced the best works on the following track were awarded with scholarships: “In a fast-paced society, taking care of the quality of time today is an added value to the commitment that each of us puts into his profession. This is also the case for a doctor and his patients: in a symbiotic relationship, the time to devote to cures, therapies, mutual listening, suffering, waiting, experimentation, study. Let the candidate tell you, through the words that ‘cure’ this time that is given to us. ” A track that is perfectly suited to the multidisciplinary path of Aoup where, in order for such complex and tailor-made therapies to be successful for the patient, it is essential to protect the quality and quantity of time dedicated by each professional to the success of the treatment. A therapeutic offer that only large, highly specialized public hospitals like the one in Pisa can guarantee. The prize awarded outside Tuscany is therefore of great value for all professional figures (administrative staff, socio-health workers, technicians, nurses and doctors) involved in organ-saving liver surgery and therefore each of them can identify with the motivation that accompanied the award to Dr. Urbani for the “competence and humanity that coexist in his profession, allowing him to be counted among the great doctors of our country committed every day to highlighting the flashes of progress that with amazement and wonder, abandons the past to promote innovation, research, cutting-edge science“.

(published by Emanuela del Mauro, 13 September 2022)