Week 7: Nina

This week, I shadowed Dr. Samstein in clinic and continued literature review to prepare for future experiments. I learned about some of the many challenges of treating and diagnosing different types of liver cancers. Liver cancer can either be the liver tissue itself or from the bile ducts. Hepatocytes, which make up a bulk of the liver volume, and cholangiocytes, which line the bile ducts, can become cancerous without any family history or genetic dispositions to disease. Therefore, treatment and diagnosis often come from routine CT scans that detect cancerous lesions. While Dr. Samstein is a liver transplant surgeon, many of his cases are not specifically related to a transplant surgery. Often, many patients need resections of cysts and tumors or biopsies to confirm a prognosis of cancer. Even with the confirmation of cancer from laboratory testing, another obstacle is being able to transmit the severity and importance of this information to patients coming from varying cultural backgrounds. While translation services are used for many patients, sometimes it can be difficult for patients to even make their appointments due to difficulties in transportation and or language. For patients residing in other boroughs, making the trip to the UES can be a challenge in itself. Therefore, treatment can sometimes be delayed due to noncompliance for routine visits. Seeing a variety of patients with different types of cancers that have no cure made me really internalize the importance of discovery and identification of markers and risk factors for developing rare liver diseases. The translation of this knowledge to the public and increasing medical literacy should also remain a top priority with scientific innovation. As my summer research project will be continued as a collaboration for at least the next four years, I have been focusing on making a comprehensive literature review to couple my research. Since liver perfusion has been done experimentally in rats and in clinical practice with human livers, it is vital to understand the differences and similarities between each methodology.