Liver Cancer Treatment Options

Cancer is when the body's cells grow uncontrollably. This abnormal growth crowds out and kills normal-growing cells. Liver cancer can begin in the liver, or can spread to the liver from other cancerous organs.
There are several treatment options to stop or cure liver cancer.

Surgery

• When cancer can be cut away from the liver, surgery is usually the most common option. Surgical resection is the procedure used to remove cancer from the liver. Surgery is not an option for liver cancer if there is cirrhosis or little healthy tissue remaining on the liver.

Alcohol Injection

• To treat liver cancer via injection, pure alcohol is injected into the cancerous tumors. The alcohol, in turn, dries up the cancerous cells. Alcohol injections can be done either through surgery or directly through the skin.

Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to kill cancerous cells. Chemotherapy is used by either dispersing drugs throughout the blood stream, or regionally through chemoembolization, which places the drugs directly into the liver.

Radiation Therapy

• Radiation therapy uses energy to shrink and or destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy is applied with either a machine or through radiation-containing materials that are placed directly into the liver.

Transplant

• A liver transplant is a surgical procedure that replaces the cancerous liver with a donated and cancer-free liver. A liver transplant is an option for those who have small, early-stage liver tumors and for certain people with bile duct tumors.

Sorafenib

• Sorafenib is a drug used on advanced and inoperable cancer. Sorafenib hinders tumors from making new blood vessels. Sorafenib was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005.