Henry Ford Hospital said Thursday that its doctors performed the state's first laparoscopic surgery for living-donor liver transplantation, another milestone in the hospital's transplant program.

The surgical team, headed by Marwan Abouljoud, M.D., used the minimally invasive procedure to remove a section of the liver from Amy Frankford, 26, of Milford, who donated the organ to save the life of her ailing father, Michael Frankford, 51, also of Milford, who has battled hepatitis C since 1986.

Traditional surgery was used to transplant the donated organ. The transplant was performed June 9.

The milestone was the third in 12 years involving Henry Ford's Transplant Institute, which also performed Michigan's first split-liver transplant in 1996 and Michigan's first adult-to-adult, living donor liver transplant in 2000.

In 2007, Henry Ford performed the most liver transplants in Michigan with 114 patients.

Laparoscopic surgery is a growing field in medicine because it's a less invasive procedure for patients, who recover faster and experience less post-operative pain than traditional open surgery. Henry Ford has used laparoscopic surgery for living-donor kidney transplants since 1999 and for removing liver tumors since 2002.

"The laparoscopic technique for living-donor liver transplantation is relatively new because the surgery is more complex given the need to preserve the integrity of the blood vessels in the liver," said Abouljoud, director of Henry Ford's Transplant Institute and Amy Frankford's surgeon.

Atsushi Yoshida, M.D., part of the surgical team, was Michael Frankford's surgeon.

Laparoscopic surgery is performed through three small holes in the abdomen. The surgical instruments and the laparoscope (a long, slender optical instrument containing a miniature camera) are placed through these holes, and the surgeon removes the organ through a 4-inch abdominal incision.

More at http://henryford.com.