What Treatments Are Available?
Liver cancer is a broad, nonspecific term, and it is important to understand differences between types of cancer in the liver and types of treatment used for specific liver tumors. In general, liver cancer can be "primary," meaning it started in the liver, or metastatic, meaning it started in another organ or area in the body and spread to the liver. The most common type of primary liver cancer is called hepatocellular carcinoma (also called hepatoma or hepatocellular cancer).
Many types of cancer can spread, or metastasize, to the liver, but certain types of cancer may spread only to the liver. This situation is also called "secondary" liver cancer. In people who had a cancer that began in another organ that spread only to the liver, surgically removing or destroying the liver tumors is the best treatment to provide a chance for cure. Cancer starting in the colon or rectum (CRC) is a common type of cancer that spreads only to the liver in some patients, thus, these patients may be evaluated for surgical removal or other treatments directed specifically at the liver tumors. Again, patients who have cancer that has spread to the liver and other organs, too, are very rarely treated with surgical removal or destruction of the liver tumors because treatment directed at the liver does not prolong the patient's life in these situations. The only notable exception is patients with rare types of slow-growing tumors called neuroendocrine tumors, principally carcinoid or pancreatic islet cell tumors, that may spread to the liver and other organs. These tumors in the liver release hormones that can cause very troublesome symptoms, and because these rare cancers grow slowly in most patients, we will treat the liver tumors aggressively with surgical removal or destruction to reduce the patient's symptoms.
