Liver cancer treatment depends on your over all state of health and on how advanced the cancer is.
Primary liver cancer (cancer that starts in the liver) is rare in Britain.  More men than women are affected and about 2,500 cases are diagnosed per year.   However, unfortunately secondary liver cancer (cancers which start elsewhere but spread to the liver) is far more common.  Cancerous tumors can start in many organs of the body such as lungs, breasts or bowel for example, and then can spread (metastasize) to the liver.  This is also known as metastatic liver cancer.

Treatments vary depending on whether the cancer has metastasized and where it is located in the body.  Side effects are caused by all treatments and full knowledge of each treatment is important before proceeding.  Treatment for patients with secondary liver cancer will depend on where the original cancer has spread from. 

Medical professionals are researching new drugs to try and increase liver cancer life expectancy.  So far, surgery is the best treatment for liver cancer and can provide the only possible cure.  Unfortunately however, less than one in three people who have cancer of the liver can have surgery to excise it because it is likely is has spread or is too large.  Stage 4 liver cancer is when the tumor has spread to other organs or lymph nodes and it can be of any size.

That said, if it is possible, there are several different surgeries available namely, a lobectomy which removes a whole lobe of the liver, a liver resection when only the cancerous part of the liver is taken away and a whole liver transplant where the liver in its entirety is removed and replaced with another healthy human liver.  An extremely small amount of patients are eligible for a replacement however.

The liver has an incredible capacity to repair itself and if a resection or lobectomy is performed, within a few weeks only, it can grow back to its normal size even if as much as 80% is taken away.

Other treatments include ethanol injections, (an alcoholic liquid which kills cancer cells) is another possible treatment if the cancer is small.  Treatment is localized and injected straight into the skin directly in the cancerous area.  In each injection session there may be one or two injections and the amount of sessions needed depends on the size of the tumor and how many there are.

Chemotherapy is unfortunately not very good at treating liver cancer, however chemoembolization could be more effective.  Chemotherapy uses medicines injected into an artery or vein which destroys cancer cells, shrinks tumors and reduces the symptoms they cause.  Chemoembolization uses these medicines and combines them with lipiodol, an oily substance which assists chemotherapy drugs to stay longer in the liver and so having a better effect.  Additionally, very small amounts of gel are injected into the surrounding area which starves the tumor of its essential blood supply and so killing it.

Radio frequency ablation destroys cancer cells using heat from radiowaves.  A narrow needle is inserted into the tumor acting as a vehicle for radiowaves to be passed down to kill the cancerous cells.

Radiotherapy seeks to kill cancer cells but unfortunately leads to damage of healthy liver cells and so, it is not usually used.
Liver cancer symptoms include swollen abdomen, loss of appetite, weight loss, sickness, jaundice and fatigue but it is likely in the early stages that no symptoms will be detected.

Mesothelioma cancer is a totally different type of cancer and caused by exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma symptoms can be general like, shortness of breath, chest pain and a persistent cough.

Unfortunately, the liver cancer survival rate is low with the three-year survival rate being less than 5%.  Liver cancer prognosis is affected by various factors such as whether the cancer has spread.  Adults have a poorer outlook as their cancer is usually diagnosed too late.  When symptoms occur, the disease is usually in advanced stages.  Only 10% of patients are diagnosed in the early stages which is when surgery, the most effective form of liver cancer treatment, can help.