Liver Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy For Liver Cancer And Other Liver Cancer Treatment

Liver cancer treatment options can be complicated and confusing. The most common types of liver cancer treatment are listed below. Click on liver cancer treatment research advances for information about therapies that have been developed more recently and are currently used less often.

Once you've found out you need liver cancer treatment, your doctor will try to diagnose the stage your liver cancer has reached. It's an important first step in determining options. You and your doctor will also talk about other factors like your general health, your age, and personal preferences.

Meanwhile, you may want to consider getting a second opinion. This will not only confirm your doctor's diagnosis, but may also give you additional information you can use to decide the best course of liver cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy for liver cancer

Most people are familiar with chemotherapy. This type of treatment uses drugs to kill cancer cells. These drugs may be administered orally or intravenously. For this reason, they can be used with cancers that have spread beyond the liver.

Unfortunately, using chemotherapy for liver cancer do not generally work well as a liver cancer treatment. Studies have shown that "chemo" doesn't help liver cancer patients liver longer.

Chemotherapy for liver cancer may also produce some unpleasant side effects, including:

• Greater chance of infection due to a shortage of white blood cells.
• Easy bleeding or bruising due to a shortage of blood platelets.
• Fatigue
• Hair loss
• Lower appetite
• Mouth sores
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Vomiting

Side effects end when chemotherapy is completed.

Surgery

As of this writing, surgery offers the best chance for curing liver cancer. "Surgery," in this case, means either a liver transplant, or cutting out the tumor.

If the surgeon can remove the tumor and all cancer cells, you have the best chance of long term survival. Unfortunately, by the time liver cancer has been diagnosed, this may not be possible. If there are a lot of separate tumors, or if cancer cells have spread to the other organs, surgery may not be an option.

Surgery is also impractical if the tumor is so large there won't be enough healthy liver tissue left to function after the cancer is removed.

For similar reasons, cirrhosis can also be a complicating factor. Remaining tissue that's damaged by cirrhosis can cause the growth of more cancer.

Finally, there are several risks related to bleeding. Post surgery bleeding is always a concern. But keep in mind, the liver also makes substances that help blood clot. If these substances aren't being produced, excessive bleeding can complicate surgery and recovery.

Liver transplantation

A transplant is usually a viable liver cancer treatment option for patients with several small tumors that can't be completely removed with surgery.

Finding a liver to transplant may be the biggest challenge. Waiting lists are long.

In the last few years, doctors have been able to take part of a the liver of a living donor to transplant in a patient with liver cancer. Usually, the donor is a close relative. Such "living donor transplants" are relatively rare however. Only a few hundred are done in the United States each year.

A liver transplant, of course, is a major surgical procedure that carries many risks. As mentioned above, bleeding is a big concern. The patient also has to take drugs that prevent the immune system from rejecting the new liver. Serious infections are also possible. 

Radiation

Radiation can kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. But the effectiveness of radiation is limited because it can also kill healthy cells.

Typically, a radiation beam from outside the body is aimed at the cancer cells. Recently, however, a new radiation therapy has been developed. It's called 3DCRT, which stands for three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy. It uses computer mapping to target the precise location of the tumor. This permits higher radiation doses to be used. This type of liver cancer treatment has become more popular than standard radiation techniques.

Radiation also has some risks and side effects. It can burn the skin at the point where the beam enters the body. Nausea, vomiting and fatigue are also possible. If the radiation is being used in combination with chemotherapy, it can make chemo side effects worse.