Liver Cancer At a Glance-Liver Cancer

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the majority of patients with liver cancer will die within one year as a result of the cancer.In the U.S., patients with associated cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis B or C infections, alcohol, and hemochromatosis are at the greatest risk of developing liver cancer.Patients with chronic liver disease (for example,

Prevention and Treatment of Liver Cancer?

What's in the future?Prevention:Worldwide, the majority of liver cancer is associated with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Today, however, all newborns are vaccinated against hepatitis B in China and other Asian countries. Therefore, the frequency of chronic hepatitis B virus in future generations will decrease.Eventually, perhaps in three or four generations, hepatitis B

Proton beam therapy for Liver cancer-Treatment

This technique is able to deliver high doses of radiation to a defined local area. Proton beam therapy is used in the treatment of other solid tumors as well. There are not much data yet regarding the efficacy of this treatment in liver cancer. The ideal patient is one with only asmall(<5 cm) solitary lesion. To have this procedure done, the patient actually is fitted with a body cast so that he

Percutaneous ethanol (alcohol) injection method-Liver Cancer treatment

Percutaneous ethanol (alcohol) injection for Liver Cancer treatment :In this technique for liver cancer, pure alcohol is injected into the tumor through a very thin needle with the help of ultrasound or CT visual guidance. Alcohol induces tumor destruction by drawing water out of tumor cells (dehydrating them) and thereby altering (denaturing) the structure of cellular proteins.It

Liver Cancer Treatment-Radio frequency ablation therapy

Liver Cancer Treatment using Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) therapyIn the U.S., RFA therapy has become the ablation (tissue destruction) therapy of choice among surgeons for liver cancer. The surgeon can perform this procedure laparoscopically (through small holes in the abdomen) or during open exploration of the abdomen.In some instances of this lever cancer treatment, the

Chemoembolization treatment of Liver Cancer-Liver cancer Treatment methods

This technique takes advantage of the fact that liver cancer is a very vascular (contains many blood vessels) tumor and gets its blood supply exclusively from the branches of the hepatic artery. This procedure is similar to intra-arterial infusion of chemotherapy. But in TACE, there is the additional step of blocking (embolizing) the small blood vessels with different types of compounds, such as

Liver cancer Chemotherapy Treatment-Liver cancer

Systemic (entire body) chemotherapyThe most commonly used systemic chemotherapeutic agents are doxorubicin (Adriamycin) and 5-fluorouracil (5 FU). These drugs are used together or in combination with new experimental agents. These drugs are quite toxic and results have been disappointing. A few studies suggest some benefit with tamoxifen (Nolvadex) but just as many studies show no advantage.

Symptoms of Liver Cancer-Indiaction's of liver cancer

The initial symptoms (the clinical presentations) of liver cancer are variable. In countries where liver cancer is very common, the cancer generally is discovered at a very advanced stage of disease for several reasons. For one thing, areas where there is a high frequency of liver cancer are generally developing countries where access to healthcare is limited.For another,