Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary malignancy of the liver that occurs predominantly in patients with underlying chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
HCC is typically diagnosed late in its course, with a median survival following diagnosis of approximately 6 to 20 months.
Current international vaccination strategies for hepatitis B virus, and advances in the management of hepatitis C virus infections, promise to have a major impact on the incidence of HCC, but their benefit will be realized slowly because of the very long latency period—20-30 years—from hepatic damage to HCC development.
Most people who develop HCC have cirrhosis, which is a build-up of scar tissue due to years of liver damage. Since HCC usually grows slowly in its early stages, it can often be cured if discovered early enough.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma treatments include:
1-Surgery. Surgery to remove the cancer and a margin of healthy tissue that surrounds it may be an option for people with early-stage liver cancers who have normal liver function.
2-Liver transplant surgery. Surgery to remove the entire liver and replace it with a liver from a donor may be an option in otherwise healthy people whose liver cancer hasn't spread beyond the liver.
3-Destroying cancer cells with heat or cold. Ablation procedures to kill the cancer cells in the liver using extreme heat or cold may be recommended for people who can't undergo surgery. These procedures include radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and ablation using alcohol or microwaves.
4-Delivering chemotherapy or radiation directly to cancer cells. Using a catheter that's passed through your blood vessels and into your liver, doctors can deliver chemotherapy drugs (chemoembolization) or tiny glass spheres containing radiation (radioembolization) directly to the cancer cells.
5-Radiation therapy. Radiation therapy using energy from X-rays or protons may be recommended if surgery isn't an option. A specialized type of radiation therapy, called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), involves focusing many beams of radiation simultaneously at one point in your body.
6-Targeted drug therapy. Targeted drugs attack specific weaknesses in the cancer cells, and they may help slow the progression of the disease in people with advanced liver cancers.
7-Immunotherapy. Immunotherapy drugs use your body's germ-fighting immune system to attack the cancer cells. Immunotherapy may be an option for treating advanced liver cancer.
8-Clinical trials. Clinical trials give you a chance to try new liver cancer treatments. Ask your doctor whether you're eligible to participate in a clinical trial.
If you have Hepatocellular Carcinoma, then visit a gastroenterologist as soon as possible.
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