![]() Liver transplant surgery is only an option for a small percentage of people with early-stage liver cancer. During liver transplant surgery, your diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy liver from a donor. Whether this is an option for you also depends on the location of your cancer within the liver, how well your liver functions and your overall health. In certain situations, your doctor may recommend an operation to remove the liver cancer and a small portion of healthy liver tissue that surrounds it if your tumor is small and your liver function is good. Operations used to treat liver cancer include: Treatments for primary liver cancer depend on the extent (stage) of the disease as well as your age, overall health and personal preferences. It's important to talk to your doctor and your medical team to determine whether chemotherapy or immunotherapy might be right as part of your treatment plan. We've had a lot of exciting developments in the field of chemotherapy and immunotherapy for liver cancer. Is chemotherapy or immunotherapy appropriate for me? It's important to talk to your doctor and your medical team to determine whether a biopsy is necessary as part of your care plan. Sometimes, liver cancer can be reliably diagnosed on imaging studies such as CT scans or MRIs. Liver cancer is one of the cancers where we may not need a biopsy to make decisions about your care. Otherwise, we want to try and be as healthy as possible by maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise. And these can include alcohol and smoking. Once you've been diagnosed with liver cancer, we want to try and avoid things that might further damage the liver. ![]() How will my diagnosis affect my diet and lifestyle? And together make a decision on what's best for you. Discuss the pros and cons and benefits of any proposed treatments. Ask them about the treatment options available. One of the best ways to partner with your care team is to be engaged. How can I be the best partner to my medical team? This can include hepatologists or liver doctors, liver surgeons and transplant surgeons, and medical and radiation oncologists. When thinking about choosing a center for liver cancer treatment, you want to think about a center that treats a lot of liver cancer and that has all the members of a team required to treat your disease. Sean Cleary, a liver surgeon at Mayo Clinic, and I'm here to answer some of the important questions you may have about liver cancer.Īfter I am diagnosed, how should I choose a care team? Cleary, M.D., Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon, Mayo Clinic: Hi. Ask your doctor whether you're eligible to participate in a clinical trial.Sean P. Clinical trials give you a chance to try new liver cancer treatments. Immunotherapy may be an option for treating advanced liver cancer. Immunotherapy drugs use your body's germ-fighting immune system to attack the cancer cells. Targeted drugs attack specific weaknesses in the cancer cells, and they may help slow the progression of the disease in people with advanced liver cancers. A specialized type of radiation therapy, called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), involves focusing many beams of radiation simultaneously at one point in your body. Radiation therapy using energy from X-rays or protons may be recommended if surgery isn't an option. Using a catheter that's passed through your blood vessels and into your liver, doctors can deliver chemotherapy drugs (chemoembolization) or tiny glass spheres containing radiation (radioembolization) directly to the cancer cells. Delivering chemotherapy or radiation directly to cancer cells.These procedures include radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and ablation using alcohol or microwaves. Ablation procedures to kill the cancer cells in the liver using extreme heat or cold may be recommended for people who can't undergo surgery. Destroying cancer cells with heat or cold.Surgery to remove the entire liver and replace it with a liver from a donor may be an option in otherwise healthy people whose liver cancer hasn't spread beyond the liver. Surgery to remove the cancer and a margin of healthy tissue that surrounds it may be an option for people with early-stage liver cancers who have normal liver function. Hepatocellular carcinoma treatments include: Which treatment is best for you will depend on the size and location of your hepatocellular carcinoma, how well your liver is functioning, and your overall health. Liver biopsy, in some cases, to remove a sample of liver tissue for laboratory testing.Tests and procedures used to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma include:
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