Primary liver cell carcinoma; Tumor - liver; Liver cancer; Cancer - liver

Aggressive surgery or a liver transplant can successfully treat small or slow-growing tumors if they are diagnosed early. However, few patients are diagnosed early.

Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are not usually effective. However, they may be used to shrink large tumors so that surgery has a greater chance of success.

Sorafenib tosylate (Nexavar), an oral medicine that blocks tumor growth, is now approved for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

You can ease the stress of illness by joining a support group with members who share common experiences and problems. See:

• Cancer - support group
• Liver disease - support group

The usual outcome is poor, because only 10 - 20% of hepatocellular carcinomas can be removed completely using surgery.

If the cancer cannot be completely removed, the disease is usually fatal within 3 - 6 months. However, survival can vary, and occasionally people will survive much longer than 6 months.

• Gastrointestinal bleeding
• Liver failure
• Spread (metastasis) of the carcinoma

Call your health care provider if you develop persistent abdominal pain, especially if you have a history of any liver disease.

Images

Liver biopsy

Hepatocellular cancer, CT scan

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Review Date: 08/09/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)