Liver Cancer Treatment — Chemotherapy
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Chemotherapy for Liver Cancer
Chemotherapy is one of the conventional medical treatments used to treat liver cancer at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). Chemotherapy is the use of drugs, often called “anticancer" drugs, to kill cancer cells. For liver cancer patients, chemotherapy uses specialized drugs to destroy liver cancer cells by impeding their ability to grow and reproduce. Chemotherapy is often used alone, but may also be used in conjunction with radiation therapy or surgery as part of your liver cancer treatment plan at CTCA.
Chemotherapy involves administering drugs intravenously by injection (into the vein), or by mouth. In regional chemotherapy, a small pump containing anticancer drugs is placed in the body. The pump puts the drugs directly into the blood vessels that go to the tumor. The purpose is to achieve greater exposure to the liver cancer than could be achieved by chemotherapy drugs that go to all parts of the body.
At CTCA, we provide Intra-arterial Chemotherapy (IAC) as a treatment option for liver cancer. Intra-arterial chemotherapy is a type of regional chemotherapy in which chemotherapy drugs are given directly to the tumor through a catheter placed in the artery that is its primary blood supply. Another type of regional chemotherapy we offer at CTCA is Chemoembolization of the hepatic artery. With chemoembolization, the anticancer drug is injected into the hepatic artery through a catheter (thin tube). The drug is mixed with a substance that blocks the artery, cutting off blood flow to the liver tumor.
During liver cancer treatment, traditional chemotherapy may cause unpleasant side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss and mouth sores. At CTCA, we offer innovative new treatments, including Fractionated Dose Chemotherapy, which can help mitigate and reduce these side effects. Fractionated dose chemotherapy administers liver cancer treatment drugs in smaller, more manageable amounts over a longer period of time.
In addition to offering many standard chemotherapy protocols, at CTCA we continue to revise our approach to liver cancer treatment to reflect new chemotherapy protocols that help reduce side effects, while still preserving and improving upon overall effectiveness.
