Liver Cancer Treatment — Radiation

Radiation Therapy for Liver Cancer 

Radiation therapy is one of the three major forms of conventional medical treatments used to treat liver cancer at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays (e.g., x-rays, gamma rays) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors, and to provide relief from symptoms such as pain. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external-beam radiation therapy), or it may come from radioactive material placed in the body near cancer cells (internal radiation therapy).

Radiation may be used as a standalone liver cancer treatment anywhere in your body, or it may be used in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. New and innovative radiation techniques have evolved and are still evolving. These new advances enable accurate delivery of higher radiation doses to liver cancer cells, while minimizing damage to healthy surrounding liver tissue.

Radiation oncologists at CTCA deliver advanced radiation techniques for liver cancer, including Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), 3-D Conformal Radiation, and External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT). In IMRT, a powerful, advanced computer program plans a precise dose of radiation to the tumor with laser accuracy. In 3-D Conformal Radiation, computer simulation produces an accurate image of the tumor so multiple radiation beans can be precisely focused, sparing the nearby normal tissue. In EBRT, a “beam” of radiation is directed from outside your body, and is focused on the cancerous liver and/or tissue within your body.

In addition, CTCA also offers new and innovative radiation therapies for liver cancer, including and TomoTherapy® Highly Integrated Adaptive Radiotherapy (HI-ART) and TheraSphere®. TomoTherapy® HI-ART is an advanced form of IMRT that delivers precise and powerful doses of radiation therapy from 360-degrees, and is a more hopeful option for patients who have reached their maximum tolerance dose of traditional radiation. TheraSphere® delivers radiation directly to tumors in the liver using tiny glass beads called microspheres. TheraSphere® offers patients with inoperable liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) a potentially less toxic treatment option.