Liver Cancer Treatment - Signs, Symptoms, Treatment

Your doctor will suggest you to undergo various diagnostic tests to detect the type and spread of cancer in liver. This will help them plan the treatment in an informed and effective manner. The list of tests would generally include LFT, AFP, CT scan, MRI and a liver biopsy. It is always good to discuss your medical history with the doctor and to make them aware of any kind of allergies that you might have to certain drugs. You should always ask your doctor about the plan of the treatment, recovery time involved etc. If you have been advised for a surgery, it is always advisable to arrive with an empty stomach.

The treatment for liver cancer depends on the stage or the condition. Your doctor will choose the best option for you depending upon the diagnosis. Oftentimes doctors prefer a combination of various treatments. For E.g. In the case of liver transplant, a portion of the liver from the living donor or a cadaver is transplanted into the body of recipient. This is one of the most common procedure as the liver has the potential to rejuvenate and regrow itself. Other techniques include Ablation, in which a small affected area is treated with either heat, specific acids or lasers to kill the abnormal cells. Embolization is used to obstruct the supply of blood to the affected part of the organ and thus killing the abnormal tissue. Other popular approaches such as chemotherapy (specially prepared medicines are injected or orally given to target and kill the abnormal tissue) and radiation therapy (targeted high intensity waves are put on the affected area to kill off the abnormal cells) are usually coupled with various other techniques to increase the success rate and to decrease the chances of reoccurrence.

One of the major risks involved in organ transplant is the rejection of the organ by the recipients body. This problem is usually solved by giving immunosuppressants to the recipient. Other risks include leaving behind some cancerous tissue or damaging some of the healthy tissue in case of using radiation therapy. More sophisticated and modern techniques help doctors minimize such risks and thus the rate of success turns out to be good.