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Adult Primary Liver Cancer Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]
Note: Some citations in the text of this section are followed by a level of evidence. The PDQ editorial boards use a formal ranking system to help the reader judge the strength of evidence linked to the reported results of a therapeutic strategy. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Levels of Evidence for more information.)
For selected patients with T1, T2, T3, or T4; N0; M0 disease.
Patients whose tumors are localized but unresectable due to location in the liver, concomitant medical considerations (such as cirrhosis), or even limited bilateral tumors, may be candidates for chemoembolization, cryosurgery, percutaneous ethanol injection, or radiofrequency ablation for cancers smaller than 5 cm. Survivals equivalent to resection have been reported.[1] One randomized trial in cirrhosis patients with small hepatocellular carcinomas demonstrated improved local recurrence-free survival in patients who underwent radiofrequency ablation as compared to percutaneous ethanol injections as their only form of treatment,[2][Level of evidence: 1iiDiii] but overall survival was not changed.[2][Level of evidence: 1iiA]
Clinical trials that use systemic chemotherapy, regional chemotherapy, and/or labeled or radiolabeled antibodies have demonstrated remission of unresectable hepatoma. Other approaches include embolization of the hepatic artery with gelfoam powder or muscle fragments and chemotherapy, usually adriamycin. These approaches often produce central tumor necrosis, reduction in tumor size, and relief of pain, but the benefits are usually transient. Any interference with arterial blood supply (including infusion chemotherapy) may be associated with significant morbidity and is contraindicated in the presence of portal hypertension, portal vein thrombosis, or clinical jaundice. A randomized study of chemoembolization versus conservative treatment found no survival advantage for chemoembolization.[3] This study was terminated early and was underpowered to detect any but large survival differences.
Standard treatment options:
- Radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolization, cryosurgery, or percutaneous ethanol injection: These techniques may be used in patients with small (<5 cm), localized, unresectable tumors.[1,4,5,6,7,8]
- Liver transplantation: For selected patients with localized unresectable hepatoma, particularly patients with fibrolamellar hepatomas, liver transplantation may offer a potentially curative treatment option.[9]
- Chemotherapy (regional infusion of the liver): Chemotherapeutic agents may be infused with a subcutaneous portal or implantable pump via a catheter placed in the hepatic artery. Older studies that use standard agents have demonstrated responses in 15% to 30% of such cases, but newer agents and techniques (i.e., biodegradable microspheres) have been evaluated in pilot trials,[10,11,12] as has regional chemotherapy with external-beam radiation therapy.[13] Many patients are not candidates for these approaches, which often require surgical intervention.
- Systemic chemotherapy: Durable remissions have rarely been reported, and no significant survival benefits have been conclusively demonstrated.
- Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy: These modalities may be combined in clinical trials for patients with a dominant hepatic mass and multifocal involvement with small amounts of tumor; surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, or cryosurgery of the mass may be followed by hepatic infusion of the remaining liver with chemotherapeutic agents alone or in combination with hyperthermia, radiation, or radiation with radiosensitizers.[1] Chemotherapy plus radiation has also been used to shrink tumors prior to resection.[14] However, the whole liver is not tolerant of large doses of radiation therapy.
- Radiosensitizers and external-beam radiation therapy without chemotherapy: The relative radiosensitivity of normal liver tissue compared with tumor tissue must always be considered when radiation therapy is contemplated.[15]
Current Clinical Trials
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with localized unresectable adult primary liver cancer. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site.
References:
- Zhou XD, Tang ZY: Cryotherapy for primary liver cancer. Semin Surg Oncol 14 (2): 171-4, 1998.
- Lencioni RA, Allgaier HP, Cioni D, et al.: Small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: randomized comparison of radio-frequency thermal ablation versus percutaneous ethanol injection. Radiology 228 (1): 235-40, 2003.
- A comparison of lipiodol chemoembolization and conservative treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Groupe d'Etude et de Traitement du Carcinome Hépatocellulaire. N Engl J Med 332 (19): 1256-61, 1995.
- Livraghi T, Goldberg SN, Lazzaroni S, et al.: Small hepatocellular carcinoma: treatment with radio-frequency ablation versus ethanol injection. Radiology 210 (3): 655-61, 1999.
- Tanaka K, Nakamura S, Numata K, et al.: The long term efficacy of combined transcatheter arterial embolization and percutaneous ethanol injection in the treatment of patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. Cancer 82 (1): 78-85, 1998.
- Livraghi T, Bolondi L, Lazzaroni S, et al.: Percutaneous ethanol injection in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis. A study on 207 patients. Cancer 69 (4): 925-9, 1992.
- Livraghi T, Benedini V, Lazzaroni S, et al.: Long term results of single session percutaneous ethanol injection in patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer 83 (1): 48-57, 1998.
- Curley SA, Izzo F, Delrio P, et al.: Radiofrequency ablation of unresectable primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies: results in 123 patients. Ann Surg 230 (1): 1-8, 1999.
- Hemming AW, Cattral MS, Reed AI, et al.: Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma. Ann Surg 233 (5): 652-9, 2001.
- Ensminger W, Niederhuber J, Dakhil S, et al.: Totally implanted drug delivery system for hepatic arterial chemotherapy. Cancer Treat Rep 65 (5-6): 393-400, 1981 May-Jun.
- Dakhil S, Ensminger W, Cho K, et al.: Improved regional selectivity of hepatic arterial BCNU with degradable microspheres. Cancer 50 (4): 631-5, 1982.
- Choi BI, Kim HC, Han JK, et al.: Therapeutic effect of transcatheter oily chemoembolization therapy for encapsulated nodular hepatocellular carcinoma: CT and pathologic findings. Radiology 182 (3): 709-13, 1992.
- Epstein B, Ettinger D, Leichner PK, et al.: Multimodality cisplatin treatment in nonresectable alpha-fetoprotein-positive hepatoma. Cancer 67 (4): 896-900, 1991.
- Sitzmann JV, Abrams R: Improved survival for hepatocellular cancer with combination surgery and multimodality treatment. Ann Surg 217 (2): 149-54, 1993.
- Di Bisceglie AM, Rustgi VK, Hoofnagle JH, et al.: NIH conference. Hepatocellular carcinoma. Ann Intern Med 108 (3): 390-401, 1988.
Purpose of This Summary
This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the treatment of adult primary liver cancer. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions.
Reviewers and Updates
This summary is reviewed regularly and updated as necessary by the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board. Board members review recently published articles each month to determine whether an article should:
- be discussed at a meeting,
- be cited with text, or
- replace or update an existing article that is already cited.
Changes to the summaries are made through a consensus process in which Board members evaluate the strength of the evidence in the published articles and determine how the article should be included in the summary.
The lead reviewers for Adult Primary Liver Cancer Treatment are:
- Russell S. Berman, MD (New York University School of Medicine)
- Giuseppe Giaccone, MD, PhD (National Cancer Institute)
- Franco M. Muggia, MD (New York University Medical Center)
- Raymond C. Wadlow, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital)
Any comments or questions about the summary content should be submitted to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form. Do not contact the individual Board Members with questions or comments about the summaries. Board members will not respond to individual inquiries.
Levels of Evidence
Some of the reference citations in this summary are accompanied by a level-of-evidence designation. These designations are intended to help readers assess the strength of the evidence supporting the use of specific interventions or approaches. The PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board uses a formal evidence ranking system in developing its level-of-evidence designations.
Permission to Use This Summary
PDQ is a registered trademark. Although the content of PDQ documents can be used freely as text, it cannot be identified as an NCI PDQ cancer information summary unless it is presented in its entirety and is regularly updated. However, an author would be permitted to write a sentence such as "NCI's PDQ cancer information summary about breast cancer prevention states the risks succinctly: [include excerpt from the summary]."
The preferred citation for this PDQ summary is:
National Cancer Institute: PDQ® Adult Primary Liver Cancer Treatment. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute. Date last modified <MM/DD/YYYY>. Available at: http://cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/adult-primary-liver/HealthProfessional. Accessed <MM/DD/YYYY>.
Images in this summary are used with permission of the author(s), artist, and/or publisher for use within the PDQ summaries only. Permission to use images outside the context of PDQ information must be obtained from the owner(s) and cannot be granted by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the illustrations in this summary, along with many other cancer-related images, is available in Visuals Online, a collection of over 2,000 scientific images.
Disclaimer
Based on the strength of the available evidence, treatment options may be described as either "standard" or "under clinical evaluation." These classifications should not be used as a basis for insurance reimbursement determinations. More information on insurance coverage is available on Cancer.gov on the Coping with Cancer: Financial, Insurance, and Legal Information page.
Contact Us
More information about contacting us or receiving help with the Cancer.gov Web site can be found on our Contact Us for Help page. Questions can also be submitted to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form.
Last Revised: 2010-07-08
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