Amy in chemo
“Because transplant for colorectal liver metastases is still so new and offered at only a handful of centers, it’s not yet on the radar for every clinician and patient,” said Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, transplant surgeon and director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center. “Amy was fortunate because her team in California recognized that possibility and sent her our way. Patients who meet the criteria should hear about transplant early enough in their journey to benefit from it.”
At the time of her diagnosis, Piccioli was a busy mom raising three young children in the South Bay region of Los Angeles. She worked as a CPA and spent weekends biking to the beach and attending Dodgers games with her family. Her medical team in California started chemotherapy, shrinking her disease to the point where liver transplantation could be considered and encouraged Piccioli to explore programs in the U.S. that were offering transplantation for colorectal liver metastases.
After learning about Northwestern Medicine’s innovative oncologic approach to liver and lung transplantation, Piccioli traveled to Chicago in September 2025, where a multidisciplinary team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital evaluated her and determined she was a strong candidate for a living‑donor liver transplant.
“Amy had disease confined to the liver and had responded very well to treatment,” said Zachary Dietch, MD, transplant surgeon at Northwestern Medicine. “For patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases, chemotherapy alone historically results in a 10% five‑year survival. But in carefully selected patients who undergo liver transplantation, five‑year survival can reach 60% to 80%, and some patients achieve long‑term cure.”
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Source: news.nm.org
