Hepatocellular carcinoma

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Digestive system

Liver biopsy

Hepatocellular cancer, CT scan

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Alternative Names:

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

Treatment:

Aggressive surgery or liver transplantation may be successful in treating small or slow-growing tumors if they are diagnosed early.

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

Support Groups:

The stress of illness can often be eased by joining a support group with members who share common experiences and problems. See liver disease - support group and cancer - support group.

Expectations (prognosis):

The usual outcome is poor, because only 10% to 20% of hepatocellular carcinomas can be removed completely using surgery. If the cancer cannot be completely removed, the disease is usually fatal within 3 to 6 months, although this is highly variable. Survival much longer than this occasionally occurs.

Complications:

Gastrointestinal bleeding
Liver failure
Spread (metastasis) of the carcinoma

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if persistent abdominal pain develops, particularly if there has been a history of any liver disease.

Review Date: 8/10/2004
Reviewed By: Stephen Grund, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Hematology & Oncology and Director of the George Bray Cancer Center at New Britain General Hospital, New Britain, CT. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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