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Hepatocellular carcinoma - Treatment

Alternative Names

Primary liver cell carcinoma; Tumor - liver; Liver cancer; Cancer - liver

Treatment:

Aggressive surgery or a liver transplant may successfully treat small or slow-growing tumors if they are diagnosed early. However, few patients are diagnosed early.

Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are not usually effective. However, they may be used to shrink large tumors so that surgery has a greater chance of success.

Sorafenib toslate (Nexavar), a medicine that blocks tumor growth, is now available for patients with liver tumors.

Support Groups:

You can ease the stress of illness by joining a support group with members who share common experiences and problems. See:

Expectations (prognosis):

The usual outcome is poor, because only 10 - 20% of hepatocellular carcinomas can be removed completely using surgery.

If the cancer cannot be completely removed, the disease is usually deadly within 3 - 6 months. However, survival can vary, and occasionally people will survive much longer than 6 months.

Complications:

Gastrointestinal bleeding
Liver failure
Spread (metastasis) of the carcinoma

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if you develop persistent abdominal pain, especially if you have a history of any liver disease.

Digestive system

Liver biopsy

Hepatocellular cancer, CT scan

Reviewed last on: 9/4/2008
Sean O. Stitham, MD, private practice in Internal Medicine, Seattle, Washington; and James R. Mason, MD, Oncologist, Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program and Stem Cell Processing Lab, Scripps Clinic, Torrey Pines, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Kew MC. Hepatic tumors and cysts. In: Feldman M, Friedman LS, Sleisenger MH, eds. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2006: chap 91.

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