Neehar Parikh, MD, MS

Andrew Sweeney was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer at age 31 and underwent a liver transplant, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Andrew Sweeney, now 35, was aware of his risk for colorectal cancer – his mother had had been diagnosed with it when she was 41. When he was 31, a CT scan at University of Michigan Health’s University Hospital revealed that Sweeney had a mass in his colon and potential metastases in his liver and lymph nodes. A colonoscopy confirmed that he had stage 4 colorectal cancer. After 1.5 years of chemotherapy, his care team began discussing how they could remove the damaged parts of Sweeney’s liver. They developed a colorectal cancer liver transplant protocol from a deceased donor and Sweeney was the first patient to undergo a liver transplant in Michigan for colon cancer. After minor recurrences of tumors in his lung in 2024, which were treated by surgery and radiation, his scans have been clear.

In late 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of sound waves to break down tumors — a technique called histotripsy — in humans for liver treatment, a new therapy developed at the University of Michigan and with support from the National Institutes of Health.