Surgery for Advanced Liver Cancer

There are many different factors that affect surgery for advanced liver cancer because it may have spread to other parts of the body.  Yet, there are numerous options that may help to reduce tumor size and allow for more treatments and possibly surgery.  Some of these treatments include:


Cryoablation:
Cryoablation uses extreme cold temperature inside the body to destroy cancer cells.

Radiofrequency Ablation or Microwave Ablation: By using extreme heat to destroy the cancer cells.

Percutaneous ethanol injection: Injecting pure alcohol into the tumor to kill cancer cells.

TACE:  Utilizes the hepatic artery to target the liver tumors with tiny beads of chemotherapy.

Yttrium 90:  Utilizes the hepatic artery to target the liver tumors with tiny beads of radiation.

Hepatectomy: Surgical procedure to remove cancerous part of the liver.

Liver transplantation: Replacement of diseased liver with healthy liver from a donor.

If the cancer has spread to only one or a few spots (in the lungs) – (and nowhere else), surgery may be used to remove these tumors. Depending on the extent of the cancer, this might help the patient live longer, or it could even cure the cancer. Deciding if surgery is an option to remove areas of cancer spread depends on their size, number, and location of tumors. 

If surgery can be performed, most often other treatment will also be utilized such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or precision medicine, and other treatments.  Make sure you have developed a multidisciplinary treatment team!