Dr. Sucandy Speaks at 2026 Single Topic Symposium of International Laparoscopic Liver Surgery Society (ILLS) Held in Malaga Spain

International Laparoscopic Liver Society (ILLS) is an international society that was founded in Paris in 2017 by pioneers of laparoscopic liver resections. The main goal of this society was to push forward the application and adoption of minimally invasive liver surgery to treat hepatic tumor and to procure part of the healthy liver for living donor liver transplantation. Since its inception, ILLS has been instrumental in developing the art and techniques of liver surgery, both via laparoscopic and now robotic methods.

ILLS holds biannual single topic symposium between the formal congress. In 2026 the single topic symposium was held in Malaga Spain with the local organizers preparing live surgery demonstration of laparoscopic segment 6 anatomical hepatectomy by Prof. Lopez and Santoyo. Other innovative surgical techniques in laparoscopic and robotic liver operations were also discussed and shared within members of ILLS, including the novel noninvasive liver tumor treatment using Histotripy.

As liver surgery entered higher and more complex indications and clinical circumstances such as for hilar cholangiocarcinoma, robotic technology plays crucial role infine tissue dissection and delicate biliary/vascular reconstructions. Being recognized as the world pioneer of robotic bile duct cancer resection, Dr. Sucandy was invited to share his experience and techniques. Special technical approaches, pitfalls in robotic surgery, management of intraoperative vascular tumor invasions, tricks to overcome tension during hepaticojejunostomy, and variations in surgical instrumentations were discussed.

In the United States, only very few centers are offering robotic resections for bile duct cancers, especially those that are located in the liver hilum. This is a very confined space with close contacts between bile duct, hepatic artery and portal veins. The two latter structures bring blood supply to the liver and invasion to one of these vessels affect surgical difficulty in the operation. Minor vascular or tumor contact can be managed via simple operative maneuver however major vascular invasion would require vascular resection and anastomosis. This is the key steo for this operation since prior expertise in open vascular surgery is needed.

Dr Sucandy had contributed also many literatures in the field of robotic biliary cancer surgery such as a landmark multicenter collaborative study on Annals of Surgical Oncology (Official Publication of the Society of Surgical Oncology), world review of minimally invasive perihilar cholangiocarcinoma on Journal of Hepatopancreatobiliary Science (Official Publication of the Japanese Society of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and many others^1,2,3.

1. Lim-Dy A, Christodoulou M, Sucandy I. Robotic Resection of Type 2 Klatskin’s Tumor With Portal Vein Lateral Venorrhaphy and Dual Hepaticojejunostomy Biliary Reconstruction. Am Surg. 2026 Jul 7:31348261468317. doi: 10.1177/00031348261468317. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42415368.
2. Kumar S, Ross S, Sucandy I. Robotic Resection of Type IV Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma. Moving Toward the Most Complex Minimally Invasive Technique in Biliary Cancer Surgery. Ann Surg Oncol. 2026 Feb;33(2):1534-1535. doi: 10.1245/s10434-025-18514-z. Epub 2025 Oct 15. PMID: 41091348.
3. Sucandy I, Marques HP, Lippert T, Magistri P, Coelho JS, Ross SB, Chumbinho B, Di Sandro S, DiBenedetto F. Clinical Outcomes of Robotic Resection for Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma: A First, Multicenter, Trans-Atlantic, Expert-Center, Collaborative Study. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Jan;31(1):81-89. doi: 10.1245/s10434-023-14307-4. Epub 2023 Sep 18. PMID: 37718337.