Liver Cancer

Liver Cancer

Symptoms

The following symptoms could be caused by liver cancer, but they can also be caused by other cancers or conditions. Still, if you have any of the following problems, see a doctor right away:

• Weight loss (for no known reason and without trying to lose weight)

• Ongoing lack of appetite

• Feeling very full after a small meal

• Liver swelling or a mass that can be felt in the area of the liver

• Ongoing stomach pain

• Swelling in the area of the stomach

• Yellow-green color to the skin and eyes (jaundice)

• Becoming sicker if you have chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis

Diagnosis

Liver cancer is most commonly diagnosed through biopsy. Although other tests can suggest that a liver cancer is present, in most cases the only way to be certain is to take a sample of the tumor (biopsy) and look at it under a microscope. There are several different methods that might be used to obtain the tissue sample.

Treatments

In many instances, individual cases are discussed at a multidisciplinary conference. Doctors from all the relevant specialties (surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, gastroenterology, diagnostic radiology and pathology) review the main information on the case and make a recommendation on the appropriate multidisciplinary management. The treatment recommended will depend on the extent of the disease, the specific type of liver cancer (primary or metastatic) and general health. Test results will help your doctor plan a treatment program that is best suited for you. There are five forms of treatment for liver cancer. One or a combination of these treatments may be used.

Surgery

If the tumor has not spread outside of the liver and if it is localized, then surgery may be recommended. Surgery may include:

• Removing the area of the liver containing the tumor

• Using a special needle that destroys the tumor with heat (called radiofrequency ablation)

• Placing an infusion pump to give chemotherapy directly to the liver

• Any combination of the above

Interventional Radiological Procedures

These procedures use X-ray imaging to guide the delivery of agents used to kill cancer cells. During embolization, a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel supplying the tumor. The cancer cells are then killed by injection of blocking agents to obstruct the blood supply to the tumor. A catheter may also be used to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs into blood vessels that directly supply the tumor. With ablation, a needle (for the delivery of drugs) or other therapeutic device is placed through the skin, into the tumor, to kill the cancer cells.

Chemotherapy

This therapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs are usually given intravenously (through a vein into the bloodstream). Some patients receive chemotherapy via a hepatic artery infusion pump. During surgery, a pump is placed under the skin of the abdomen and filled intermittently with chemotherapy agents. The tip of the pump catheter is placed in the hepatic artery to infuse treatment directly into the liver.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is not used in the treatment of liver cancer as commonly as surgery and chemotherapy. Sometimes radiation is given together with chemotherapy or during surgery.