Liver Cancer Treatment
Moffitt Cancer Center offers liver cancer treatment that is individualized for every patient. Our Gastrointestinal Oncology Program has a multispecialty team of liver cancer experts that includes surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, interventional radiologists, diagnostic radiologists, social workers, dietitians and many other specialists. Together, this collaborative team meets weekly as a tumor board to find the most effective treatment options for each patient. Our team also provides supportive care that will help minimize side effects and enhance the patient’s quality of life.
Common treatment options for liver cancer
Some of the most common liver cancer treatment options include:
- Surgery – Depending on the size of a tumor, a surgical oncologist may perform a hepatectomy, in which a portion of the liver is removed, or a liver transplant, which involves removing a patient’s liver entirely and replacing it with a healthy one. However, if cancerous cells have moved to other parts of the body, surgery may not be an appropriate form of treatment. Our surgeons also utilize advanced techniques, such as radiofrequency liver tumor ablation, which destroys cancer cells using targeted heat.
- Radiation therapy – Our highly trained team can perform both external beam radiation as well as internal radiation treatment. Some of these procedures include brachytherapy, neoadjuvant radiation therapy and our precise Novalis radiosurgery.
- Minimally invasive targeted liver therapy by interventional radiology – Some of our innovative interventional radiology techniques include targeted hepatic artery chemoembolization or radioembolization, a procedure that blocks the blood supply to the tumor, and percutaneous ablation, a minimally invasive treatment that applies heat or cold directly to the tumor to destroy the cancer cells.
- Chemotherapy – Therapeutic drugs are administered by a medical oncologist intravenously or orally. This form of therapy may include chemoembolization, in which a drug is injected directly into the blood vessel leading to the tumor. This drug then works to block the blood flow to the mass, thereby destroying the cancer.
Other forms of liver cancer treatment may include targeted drug therapy and immunotherapy.
In addition, our program offers some of the most advanced clinical trials available. Moffitt contributes to landmark research in drug discovery, surgical techniques, molecular therapy, immune therapy and endoscopy. Our breakthrough discoveries in the lab then become early-stage translational research studies, providing some of the most effective treatments in patient clinical trials, which are often only available at Moffitt.
Learn more about your liver cancer treatment options by calling Moffitt Cancer Center at 1-888-663-3488 or by completing our new patient registration form. No referral is necessary to visit Moffitt and speak with a liver cancer specialist.
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