Secondary Liver Cancer

The liver, one of the most important organs of the body, has several important functions that keep a person healthy. It removes harmful substances in the blood, bile and produces enzymes that help digest food and converts food into substances needed for life and growth.

How to involve cancer of the liver?

There are two ways in which cancer can involve the liver. Cancer can arise from the liver itself (primary liver cancer) or it can spread to the liver from a primary tumor at another site (secondary, or metastatic cancer).

In the UK, secondary liver cancer is about 28 times more common than primary liver cancer. Each year there are approximately 70,000 patients in the United Kingdom with secondary liver cancer and about 2,500 of primary liver cancer.

Liver cancer can occur in two ways:

Cancer · primary liver (hepatocellular carcinoma in most cases) originates in the liver.
· Results metastatic liver cancer from spreading (metastasis) of cancer from other areas of the body.
What is primary liver cancer?
Primary liver cancer begins in cells, blood vessels, biliary tract or liver tissue. This is not very common. Primary liver cancer is different from cancer that began somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver (called secondary liver cancer or metastatic liver cancer).

The liver is one of the principal organs of the body. It is located in the upper abdomen on the right side and is protected by the lower ribs. The liver is in two parts, called lobes - the right lobe and smaller left lobe.

Causes

Your liver is an organ of football size located in the upper right abdomen, under your diaphragm and above your stomach. Your liver processes most of the nutrients absorbed from your small intestine, which determines the amount of sugar (glucose), proteins and lipids enter your bloodstream. It also manufactures blood-clotting substances and certain proteins. Your liver plays a vital role in detoxifying suppressing drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances in the blood.
What are the main treatments for liver cancer? Surgery for primary liver cancer.
Surgery for liver cancer is the best treatment we have if the cancer has not spread.

There are two main options
· A liver transplant
· The surgery to remove cancer of the liver
liver transplant

hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is more likely to develop in people with chronic cirrhosis. Your specialist may suggest a liver transplant if you have cirrhosis of the liver because of previous liver disease or infection by hepatitis or drinking alcohol.

Other treatments
Your specialist may suggest one of the following treatments to help control liver cancer
· Injections Percutaneous ethanol
· The radiofrequency ablation
· Chemoembolization
· Cryosurgery or cryotherapy

A new treatment of liver cancer Targets

In the interventional radiology room, doctors use selective internal radiation therapy for patients with inoperable liver cancer.
Doctors at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center are making a new treatment for inoperable liver cancer known as Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). SIRT is a non-surgical outpatient treatment that uses microscopic radioactive spheres, called SIR-Spheres ®, to deliver radiation directly on the site of the liver tumor.