Liver Cancer Information
Treatment Options
Liver transplant: Surgery in which a donor provides a new liver or partial liver to replace a diseased liver in another. This complicated procedure is usually recommended for Stage I patients. However, regardless of the stage of cancer, it is important to consult with a doctor about the feasibility of a transplant. Patients who receive transplants have higher remission rates than other treatments. Sometimes other treatments, such as chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation, and cryosurgery, will be administered pre-transplantation in order to shrink tumors. It is possible for tumors to re-grow in the liver.
Resection: Surgery that involves the removal of damaged tissue or entire portions of the liver. Many patients are not candidates for resection. In most cases, cancer must not have spread to other parts of the body in order to perform resection. Similar to liver transplantation, other treatments may be administered before resection in order to shrink tumors.
Radio frequency ablation: A procedure that destroys liver tumors approximately 4 cm and smaller by heating them to temperatures between 80 and 100 degrees C using a needle and electrical current. This treatment may be used before and after surgical options to improve patient outcome. Sometimes this treatment is described as “burning” the tumors out.
Chemoembolization: Treatment in which chemotherapy drugs are administered into the liver tumor through the hepatic artery. This procedure is usually beneficial in patients that have tumors limited to the liver. Chemoembolization can also be used to decrease the size of tumors to make surgical options possible.
Radiosurgery: A treatment that delivers radiation directly to liver tumors in a surgical setting. Tumors are destroyed without damaging surrounding tissue. A common tool used to perform this surgery is called CyberKnife.
Theraspheres: These microscopic glass beads are filled with radioactive elements. The beads deliver radiation directly to liver tumors through a small needle. This procedure is often used in patients that are not candidates for resection.
Injection: Ethanol injection kills tumor cells by drying them out. It is often used when the tumor cannot be removed surgically. Injection of ethanol is most useful in patients with smaller tumors.
Cryosurgery: This procedure involves freezing the tumor tissue using liquid nitrogen. It is often used when surgery is not an option. Cryosurgery is most beneficial in patients with smaller tumors.
Antineoplastons therapy: Gene therapy designed to cause cancer cells to stop multiplying and die.
Chemotherapy: This treatment is designed to stop the production of cancer cells using a variety of powerful chemicals. Chemotherapy interrupts the life cycle of cells and stops cells from growing. These drugs all have heavy side effects and may result in tumor shrinkage of up to twenty percent
Immunotherapy: Using the body's natural defenses to fight cancer in called immunotherapy. This type of treatment is being used experimentally in clinical trials and also in combination with other types of treatments.
