Liver Cancer Treatment at Different Stages
Metastatic cancer is a kind of cancer which spreads from the location where it first originated to a secondary location in the body. Metastatic liver cancer is a condition in which cancer from another body spreads reaches the liver via the bloodstream. Thus, the liver cells do not get cancerous. The liver is the site to which the cancer has reached from the originated location. Metastatic liver cancer carries similar name and similar cancer cells like the primary cancer. The common cancers which reach to the liver are ovary, lungs, breast, colon, uterus, bladder, stomach, kidney as well as pancreas.
Liver cancer chemotherapy utilizes chemical compounds to damage these cancer cells wherever they appear in the body. With this methodology, you can considerably increase the life span of a person with liver metastases.
Before surgery, chemotherapy can lower the chances of tumor from occurring later. Chemotherapy also assists in shrinking the liver metastases from the rectum and color so, it is securer for a surgeon to remove.
Chemotherapy via Hepatic Arterial Infusion
The procedure delivers drug instantly to the liver via an abdominal pump. This method has provided patients exceptional cure and better survival results for liver metastatic which commenced in the rectum and colon. The usual procedure to get chemotherapy is via IV. This method spreads the medication across the body. But, if the doctors have found the cancer in just liver and nowhere else, you also have the option to go for chemotherapy via HAI (Hepatic Arterial Infusion). The process submits chemotherapy straight to the location where tumor is sited.
For HAI chemo, doctors provide a high chemotherapy dosage in the hepatic artery which is the major blood source of nutrients and blood for liver cancer. A small pump is implanted in the lower abdomen under the skin which is filled as and when needed over time.
HAI chemo allows patients to live longer after surgery with liver metastases and lowers down the side effects of cancer, thereby improvising the quality of life.
Often patients with liver metastatic cannot undergo surgery due to factors like size, location and number of tumors. So, they have option of HAI chemotherapy as it lowers the tumor to a size which can be removed easily by a surgeon.
Researchers are continuously looking for new chemo combos to advance the standards of care for liver metastatic patients.
Advanced (Metastatic) Liver Cancer
The Advanced liver cancer reaches to the other organs or lymph nodes. As they are widespread, they cannot be cured via surgery. The localized unrespectable cancer can be treated better with new approaches to chemo, new ways of radiation therapy and other latest treatments. Methods like radiation also help in relieving pain and other symptoms.
The drugs of liver cancer chemotherapy sometimes destroy the healthy cells too along with the cancer cells. They prohibit tumor cells from copying and interrupt the blood flow to a tumor. Biologic drugs when combined with chemo enhance the efficacy of treatment. However, clinical trials are still going on to evaluate the effective drugs.