About us & Dr. Sucandy

Dr. Iswanto Sucandy is a regional/national expert and to-go surgeon for the surgical treatment of liver, gallbladder, and bile duct tumors.  Led by Dr. Iswanto Sucandy, the liver cancer surgery program in Tampa, FL performs more minimally invasive robotic liver operations than any other hospital in the United States and North America. We perform liver surgery to remove liver tumors almost everyday. www.iswantosucandyliversurgery.com is maintained to disseminate information about the role and benefit of liver surgery, especially robotic technique in the care of patients with primary or metastatic liver tumors.   

Upon his arrival in Tampa late 2016, Dr. Iswanto Sucandy expanded the liver surgery program from a dozen patients/year to now more than 120 patients/year benefiting from the minimally invasive robotic liver surgery.  A great majority of them are curative with excellent long-term survival outcomes.  We know that this is the best and most modern way in treating liver tumors today.

We have established a high-volume comprehensive robotic liver surgery center with national and international collaborations including other major centers to share clinical data for research and education.  We are proud to be a contributor to major peer-reviewed surgical oncology and hepatobiliary journals.  Our goal is to provide the most advanced and highest quality liver surgery available.

Have Your Liver Surgery with Dr. Iswanto Sucandy

Dr. Sucandy and his team take great pride not only in being the most knowledgeable and technically most skillful liver surgeons in the US, but also having great bedside manners, treating each patient as family. Our office can provide you with information on how to travel to Tampa as well as the hocallto accomodations,  to have Dr. Sucandy perform your liver operation.

Dr. Sucandy Performing a Minimally Invasive Robotic Liver Surgery (with or without Liver Ablations)

We take great pride in being the center of excellence for liver tumors or liver cancers.   When it comes to liver tumors, there is nothing we have not seen before. Our team is fully dedicated to the mission of patient care, science and advancing education. When it comes to patient care, we treat our patients as family members. From the moment you call, email or contact us, you immediacalltoy become part of our liver surgery family. Dr. Sucandy has been involved in many landmark research studies over the last 10 years in the field of liver cancer, as you can see from his academic portfolio and publications. There is virtually nothing that our team has not seen in regards to liver, gallbladder, and bile duct tumors.

Many of the liver tumor surgery is performed by surgeons with very limited experience in this subspecialty. They do less than five liver resections per year and those are mostly minor wedge resections.  Many of the liver tumors are also referred to an interventional radiologist for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or microwave ablation without first being properly evaluated by a liver surgeon like Dr. Sucandy.  This results in suboptimal or inferior outcomes when compared to when the treatment is delivered by an expert liver surgeon.  Our program is the busiest robotic liver surgery program in the U.S and North America. Dr. Sucandy is an expert liver surgeon performing more than 120 liver resections every year.

It is WorthWhile to Travel to Tampa for Your Liver Surgery

We are a complecalltoy game-changer in regards to the treatment of liver tumors and liver cancers. We are not only safer, better, more efficient, and with much lower complication but also less expensive,  due to our significantly shorter hospital stay with minimally invasive robotic approach (average of 3 days with us versus 10 days in typical U.S Hepatobiliary centers).

Is this true? Yes, we have seen hundreds of patients with liver, gallbladder, and bile duct tumors of any kinds.  With experience in the disease treatment, we streamline your diagnostic process without being redundant. We are well aware of the costs (copay that you pay) for a diagnostic imaging such as CT scan or MRI. With significant experience in robotic surgery, Dr. Sucandy and his team can perform >85% of liver tumor operations without making a large incision.  By avoiding a large incision alone, your postoperative pain and complications are hugely minimized. Your recovery and duration of hospital stay are also much shorter.  For patients who need further chemotherapy after liver surgery, this can also be initiated much earlier (4 weeks versus 8-9 weeks), which is known to impact long-term overall survival.

What Makes Dr. Sucandy and His Team the Best to Do Your Liver Operation? 

Our liver surgery are unlike liver surgery performed by 90 % of surgeons elsewhere in the world. Most perform liver surgery in the same way they perform liver transplant surgery- through a large inverted L-shaped or Mercedes Benz incision in the front of the abdomen.  Unless it is really necessary,  we rarely do this, because it is not in your best interest. In our hands, creating a large incision is needed in about 15% of patients due to a very large tumor size (>15cm), close tumor proximity/in contact with major blood vessels such as vena cava or portal vein, or if there is a need for major vascular resection with reconstruction.  The majority of our liver surgery is done via five small incisions. You can read more about our technique in this website.

We Understand Your Liver Tumor Situation. We have seen many hundreds of liver tumor patients and we have successfully taken care of them. We have developed and perfected the technique of robotic liver surgery. Dr. Sucandy has been invited to give many national and international lectures by numerous surgical societies on how to perform robotic liver surgery.  He has also published surgical techniques of liver operations in various peer-reviewed journals for other surgeons to learn. You can actually google them on Pubmed. Liver surgery is our passion. We help develop and shape this field. This is what we do.

We Have More Experience in Liver Tumor Treatment. It has long been known that the best surgical outcomes come from a high-volume specialty surgeons, who perform the operation often. The only way to achieve the very best outcomes is to have a surgeon who has done the operations hundreds of times. In liver surgery, Dr. Sucandy is the surgeon for this.

Two Surgeons in Every Liver Operation. We truly believe that liver operation is a serious operation which can not be taken lightly. Two pilots are needed for every commercial airplanes to ensure safety of the passengers. This is not different than in robotic liver surgery we perform. We want to ensure the best outcomes and safety for our patients. This means two liver surgeons (Dr. Sucandy and his surgeon colleague) who are both experts in the disease treatment are present in your operation.  They are not resident, fellows, or student, but the are fully board certified Hepatopancreatobiliary surgeons.

Your Liver Operations Is Not Done by a Trainee. Liver surgery is too complex for resident trainees to do.  This is true even for open liver surgery. All university hospitals and hospitals associated with medical schools are expecting that surgical trainees perform most of the operation. This is not true with liver operation, especially with minimally invasive robotic liver surgery in our center.  It is great for trainees to see the operation for their learning but Dr. Sucandy and one of his colleague perform your operation.  We want every liver operation is performed perfectly ! We are well aware that nobody is traveling a long distance to have a trainee perform their liver operation, which can compromise the outcomes.

www.iswantosucandyliversurgery.com is a center of excellence for liver tumor surgery, with significant expertise in minimally invasive robotic liver resection and ablation. Liver tumor is a serious disease and technically challenging to treat/remove. You need an expert liver surgeon with the highest volume of robotic liver surgery to perform your operation, even though this may require a distant travel.