Cancer Liver

Once liver cancer has been found and correctly staged to determine the spread and extent of cancer it is very important to choose the right type of cancer liver treatment plan. This is obviously a major decision that involves a lot of time and thought. It would be prudent to avail of a second opinion from an experienced doctor in the field of cancer liver treatments. This will give you all the information you need to have and make you confident about the plan you pick. Besides, almost all insurance companies pay for a second opinion.

Cancer liver treatments would involve the following:

• Surgery: This offers a chance for a cure. It is performed either to transplant the liver or remove a tumor. Obviously complete removal of the liver is not really possible and if the cancer is huge it is usually found in various parts or even beyond the liver. Surgeons need to try and get almost all the cancer out and yet leave some behind so that the liver functions in the way it has to. Small liver cancers allow for a liver transplant because these cannot be removed due to their location or due to the fact that there would not be enough of the liver left behind.

• Ablation and embolization of tumors:

Ablation refers to the treatment that is local and which destroys the cancer liver tumor without actually removing it. This type of treatment can be done in different ways and is done for those that have small tumors that cannot be surgically removed.

Embolization is also a treatment for cancer liver tumor that cannot be surgically removed. This type of treatment involves inserting a particular material in an artery carrying blood to the cancerous tumor. The blood flow gets blocked and inhibits the growth of the tumor.

Chemo-embolization combines chemotherapy with embolization.

Radio-embolization is a fairly new treatment in cancer liver treatment and combines radiation with embolization and is carried out by injecting tiny radioactive beads/oils into the blood-feeding artery of the liver. In this way only the tumors get tiny doses of radiation.

• Radiation: High energy rays (X-rays) are used to kill the cancer cells and even shrink tumors. In this way cancer liver cells can be destroyed. Because liver tissue can also be killed the doses cannot be very high. This treatment cannot cure the cancer but can be used to shrink a liver cancer tumor and give the patient relief from acute pain.

• Targeted therapy: New drugs today aim for changes in the cancer causing cells. These drugs do not function like the chemo drugs and have side effects that are less severe. They enter the blood and pass through the whole body making them useful in treating cancer liver and other cancers that are located in distant organs.

• Chemotherapy: Usually chemotherapy and the use of chemo drugs helps the patients to live longer even though liver cancer does not generally respond to the drugs.

If cancer liver staging and detection is done early the tumors can be surgically removed. There is a low rate of survival for those with liver cancer due to the fact that patients usually have problems like cirrhosis of the liver with can be fatal.