Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery and TransplantationMedicine and Medical Science

M.D. Professor Etsuro Hatano

We provide surgical and multidisciplinary treatment for hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases. We provide the best treatment even for patients with advanced cancer that has been diagnosed as unresectable at other hospitals. In standard surgery, we perform minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Our institution is one of the top centers for liver transplantation, and also provides liver transplantations for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma. Our goal is to train surgeons with advanced skills both for surgery and basic research, based on our belief that knowledge, skill, and heart are the key to supporting patients’ hopes.

Lab Website

Research and Education

We are conducting a wide range of research in the field of hepatobiliary-pancreatic oncology and regenerative/transplantation medicine with a view to providing feedback to clinical practice.

  1. Hepatobiliary
    • Development of artificial bile ducts using artificial materials.
    • Development of transplantable organs (liver and small intestine) using decellularization technique1,2．
    • Integrated analyses of primary liver cancers using genome sequencing and clinicopathological features3.
    • Mechanisms and countermeasures of chemotherapy-induced liver injury.
    • Research on the origin and function of fibroblasts in liver fibrosis, liver regeneration, and cancer.
  2. Pancreas
    • Mechanism of severe pancreatic fistula．
    • Development of improved methods for islet transplantation4,5.
  3. Liver transplantation
    • Mechanisms of immune tolerance.
    • Reduction of graft injury by controlling complement activation．
    • Development of a new graft preservation method using hydrogen and machine perfusion.
    • Research to overcome the small-for-size syndrome by “making small grafts bigger” in xenotransplanted animals．
  4. Medical-engineering collaboration
    • Development of a medical instrument (MIPS) that enables real-time fluorescent navigation surgery

Figure 1. Hybrid artificial liver.

(A) A hybrid artificial liver in which hepatocytes (Hep) and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) are recellularized on a decellularized liver scaffold. The recellularization of LSECs suppressed thrombus formation (B), enabling extracorporeal blood circulation for more than ten hours (C).

Figure 2. Basic and clinical studies of islet transplantation for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Evaluation of a new islet graft site (subcutaneous) using PET: We demonstrated islet (cell) graft engraftment in the subcutaneous region and presented a new imaging method for islet graft evaluation.

Recent Publications

  1. Kojima H, Yasuchika K, Fukumitsu K, Ishii T, Ogiso S, Miyauchi Y, Yamaoka R, Kawai T, Katayama H, Yoshitoshi-Uebayashi EY, Kita S, Yasuda K, Sasaki N, Komori J, Uemoto S. Establishment of practical recellularized liver graft for blood perfusion using primary rat hepatocytes and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. Am J Transplant 18:6:1351-1359:2018.
  2. Kojima H, Ishii T, Fukumitsu K, Ogiso S, Tomofuji K, Oshima Y, Horie H, Ito T, Wakama S, Makino K, Hatano E. In Vivo Regeneration of Tubular Small Intestine With Motility: A Novel Approach by Orthotopic Transplantation of Decellularized Scaffold. Transplantation. 2023 Sep 1;107(9):1955-1964.
  3. Makino K, Ishii T, Takeda H, Saito Y, Fujiwara Y, Fujimoto M, Ito T, Wakama S, Kumagai K, Munekage F, Horie H, Tomofuji K, Oshima Y, Uebayashi EY, Kawai T, Ogiso S, Fukumitsu K, Takai A, Seno H, Hatano E. Integrated analyses of the genetic and clinicopathological features of cholangiolocarcinoma: cholangiolocarcinoma may be characterized by mismatch-repair deficiency. J Pathol. 2024 May;263(1):32-46.
  4. Inoguchi K, Anazawa T, Fujimoto N, Tada S, Yamane K, Emoto N, Izuwa A, Su H, Fujimoto H, Murakami T, Nagai K, Hatano E. Impact of prevascularization on immunological environment and early engraftment in subcutaneous islet. Transplantation. Transplantation. 2024 May 1;108(5):1115-1126.
  5. Yamane K, Anazawa T, Nagai K, Ito T, Hatano E. Current status of total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation for chronic and recurrent acute pancreatitis. Ann Gastroenterol Surg. 2024;8:401–412.

Laboratory

Professor: Etsuro Hatano
Associate professor: Takamichi Ishii
Lecturer: Takashi Ito, Yoichiro Uchida, Kazuyuki Nagai, Takayuki Anazawa, Satoshi Ogiso
Assistant professor: Eri Ogawa, Tatsuya Okamoto, Shoichi Kageyama, Yuki Masano, Hirofumi Hirao, Kentaro Kadono, Yosuke Kasai, Hidenobu Kojima, Shinya Okumura, Takahiro Nishio, Tomoaki Yoh, Hiroto Nishino, Kei Yamane, Yukie Elena Uebayashi
Staff doctor: Miki Yamamoto

TEL：+81-75-751-3651
FAX：+81-75-751-3106

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