In a significant turning point for Greek medicine, the country’s first liver transplants for patients with colorectal cancer metastasised exclusively to the liver were successfully performed in June 2025. The surgeries took place at the “Laiko” General Hospital of Athens, led by Professor Giorgos Sotiro-poulos and his team at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA).
The patients — two men aged 40 and 43 — met strict international eligibility criteria, including positive responses to chemotherapy and no cancer spread beyond the liver. Their operations represent a hopeful new direction in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer in Greece, with both patients reportedly recovering well.
This medical breakthrough aligns with a broader health policy shift under Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis. Since returning to the Health Ministry in early 2025, Georgiadis has made reforming Greece’s transplant system a top priority. His initiatives include fast-tracking national transplant protocols, boosting public awareness around organ donation, and investing in multidisciplinary transplant units.
“Liver transplantation does not promise easy answers,” Professor Sotiro-poulos said, “but it opens a new path where previously there was none.”
That path now appears to have political backing. In public statements this summer, Minister Georgiadis emphasized the need for “aggressive modernization” of transplant infrastructure and greater inter-hospital collaboration, citing the surgeries at “Laiko” as a “model of excellence” to be expanded nationwide.
These transplants also bring Greece into line with countries like Norway, France, and Spain, where similar protocols have shown survival rates of over 70% in selected patients. The move could elevate Greece’s regional role in oncology and transplant medicine — if systemic support continues.
The challenge ahead remains substantial: increasing donor availability, refining patient selection processes, and integrating surgical and oncology teams across public hospitals. Still, with political will now behind clinical innovation, the future of liver transplantation in cancer treatment looks increasingly promising.
Source: pagenews.gr