What Is The Most Effective Liver Cancer Treatment?

There are several aspects of liver cancer treatment with one of the most important being discovery of the disease at an early enough stage for treatment to be possible. The earlier liver cancer is detected and diagnosed the better the chances for successful treatment. As time progresses the disease spreads rather quickly and treatment options are dependent largely on how much the cancer has spread. In advanced stages there are few treatment options that may be available let alone effective. This is why it is so important to be diagnosed at the earliest possible stage.

Early diagnosis of liver cancer is difficult due largely to the fact that in many cases this disease presents little or no symptoms in the early stages. However in the rare cases that symptoms are present you should pay attention to these symptoms and seek medical consultation. The survival rate of liver cancer is quite low because it is so difficult to detect this disease in early enough stages for treatment to be effective.

Some of the symptoms associated with liver cancer include nausea, internal bleeding, changes in the color of stool or urine, jaundice or  yellowing of the skin or eyes, pain in the upper right portion of the abdomen or right shoulder blade, loss of appetite,  unexplained weight loss and extreme weakness or fatigue.

There are several factors that will be considered in determining which liver cancer treatment will be most effective for each individual case. These factors include the size and location of the tumor as well as how advanced the cancer is. Other factors that will be considered are the age and general health of the individual in question. In addition to the factors used to consider which treatment option is best personal preference is also considered when possible. In some cases this may not be possible due to how advanced the cancer is.

Some of the available treatments for liver cancer may include one or more of the following options:

Surgery

There are two main types of surgery that may be used in treating liver cancer. In some cases when liver function is good and the tumors are small removal of the part of the liver containing the cancer may be removed. In other cases a liver transplant may be an option. This is where the entire liver is removed and replaced with a healthy one. This method is often used when cirrhosis or scarring of the liver has occurred.

Chemotherapy

This method consists of using drugs injected directly to the liver in order to destroy the cancerous cells.

Radiation Therapy

This method uses a machine to project powerful energy beams to the area where the cancer has been detected to shrink tumors and destroy cancer cells.

These are the most common used options for liver cancer treatment however there are others that may be used as well either alone or in combination with these. Some of these options may include freezing or heating the cancerous cells, alcohol injection directly to the liver and targeted drug therapy.