Vijay P. Khatri, MD manages a broad spectrum of cancers, but his clinical interests are in rectal carcinoma and primary and metastatic liver cancers. He also possesses expertise in the management of complex extremity and retroperitoneal/pelvic sarcomas, particularly recurrent and locally advanced tumors, which require a multidisciplinary approach and necessitate working closely with other specialists. Dr. Khatri’s practice also includes providing interdisciplinary care for breast cancer and he is one of the first surgeons to investigate the role of image-guided radiofrequency ablation of breast cancer. He continues to pursue his interest in implementing sphincter-sparing approaches for rectal cancer, a disease entity that also necessitates a multidisciplinary approach. Such focus in sarcomas and rectal cancer has led him to develop a forte for undertaking resection of complex recurrent pelvic tumors.
For Dr. Khatri’s focus in gastrointestinal cancer and in primary and metastatic liver cancers, he has integrated radiofrequency ablation and portal-vein embolization to increase curative hepatic surgery for colorectal liver metastases in collaboration with the Radiology department. Patients with unresectable tumors are evaluated jointly to offer ablative therapies or chemoembolization. With advances in minimally invasive and robotic technology, Dr. Khatri is actively integrating these approaches to colorectal and liver surgery.
Dr. Khatri co-chairs the weekly Gastrointestinal Cancer Interdisciplinary Tumor Board, which serves to facilitate optimal multidisciplinary patient care, enhance clinical trials enrollment and foster development of therapeutic protocols. Through telemedicine, the board provides access to tertiary-level cancer management to satellite Cancer Centers in Tahoe Forest, Merced and Fremont Rideout.
Dr. Khatri serves on the editorial board of numerous surgical and oncological journals, and as section editor for Annals of Surgical Oncology, the members of which are national and international leaders in the field of oncology. He is the author of the Atlas of Advanced Operative Surgery.
Dr. Khatri’s research is geared toward the implementation of clinical research and conducting clinical trials. The first part of a phase-II study investigating the effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation for early breast cancer has been completed in collaboration with Dr. McGahan, and the results have been presented at national meetings. Clinical trials which will test the effect of chemotherapy, novel agents with subsequent hepatic resection and/or radiofrequency ablation, SBRT for patients with colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma are being developed by the Gastrointestinal Cancer Innovation Group in collaboration with basic scientists.
