Definition
In medical terms, liver cancer is called hepatocarcinoma : we are talking about a cancer in the vast majority of cases, unfortunately difficult to resolve. Liver cancer, although quite rare in Italy, is very virulent, so much so that the disease gives fatal results in almost all patients.
Causes
Hepatocellular carcinoma is closely related to cirrhosis and some forms of hepatitis; it follows that limiting the intake of alcohol and avoiding unprotected sex (risk factors for cirrhosis and viral hepatitis) are important guidelines for the prophylaxis of cirrhosis, therefore also of liver cancer.
Symptoms
One of the heaviest limits for the treatment of liver cancer is its diagnosis: in fact, the cancer does not begin with any particular symptom, therefore the individual does not realize that he is sick. However, liver cancer can be accompanied by: ascites, asthenia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, edema, hepatomegaly, fever, loss of appetite, jaundice, nausea, itching, intense thirst, dark urine, vomiting. In some cases (outbreak of the tumor in the peritoneum), abdominal pain manifests itself in the form of colic and can cause peritonitis.
Information on Liver Cancer - Liver Cancer Treatment Drugs is not intended to replace the direct relationship between health professional and patient. Always consult your doctor and / or specialist before taking Liver Cancer - Liver Cancer Treatment Drugs.
drugs
As we have seen, the biggest obstacle to treating liver cancer is diagnosis: in fact, due to symptomatic specificity, hepatic carcinoma is generally diagnosed when it is too advanced. As a result, the life expectancy of the affected patient is very low: in most cases, the liver is heavily compromised at the time the tumor is detected.
Surgical excision of the tumor is the most immediate therapeutic option; unfortunately, however, it is estimated that only a quarter of sick patients can be operated on.
Alternative techniques for treating liver cancer:
- Intravenous chemotherapy: not very effective
- Local chemotherapy: the anticancer drug is injected into the hepatic artery (direct transport of the active ingredient into the diseased liver)
- Ligation of the hepatic artery: in this way the supply of nutrients to the liver is denied, consequently the tumor is induced to death
- Chemioembolization: this practice makes use of contrasting pharmacological substances that highlight the tumor site; the intervention aims to keep the drugs in the liver for as long as possible, blocking the hepatic circulation permanently or temporarily.
- Radioembolization: radioactive substances are injected through a catheter directly into the hepatic artery and from there into the area affected by the tumor.
- Radiotherapy
- Percutaneous alcoholization: in situ ethanol is injected (in the tumor), using an ultrasound (to identify the tumor mass) and a needle to inject ethyl alcohol
- Laser ablation (awaiting transplantation)
- Organ transplantation: liver transplantation is a valid therapeutic alternative for cancer treatment; however, it is not always possible, given that the expansion of cancer is often a limitation.
Liver cancer: drugs
Let us focus on the therapeutic use of drugs for the treatment of liver cancer: we have analyzed that the classic systemic administration (intravenous / oral) of anticancer drugs does not fully express the hoped for therapeutic effect. Local applications of chemotherapy drugs seem to be more effective, directly in the hepatic artery.
- Sorafenib (eg Nexavar) is the drug of choice for treating liver cancer and is given as an initial dose of 400 mg twice a day, an hour or two after meals. The treatment should be continued until the patient draws marked benefits, without heavy side effects. The administration of this new chemotherapeutic molecule seems to increase patients' hopes for survival by three months, compared to patients who do not take any medication.
However, it is important to emphasize that this active ingredient is used in therapy to improve the patient's symptomatic conditions: chemotherapy - especially systemic - plays a very marginal role in the context of liver cancer, given that efficacy is not guaranteed on prognosis.
Among the other chemotherapeutic molecules less used in therapy against liver cancer, we recall:
- Gemcitabine (eg Gembin, tabin, gemzar)
- Oxaliplatin (eg. Eloxatin, oxaliplatin tev)
- Doxorubicin (eg Adriblastina, Caelyx, Myocet)
The dosage, the modality of administration and the duration of the therapy of the drugs described above must be established by the doctor on the basis of the stage of progress of the tumor and on the response to patient care.
