According to the American Cancer Society, or ACS, metastatic liver cancer is stage IV or advanced liver cancer that has spread from the liver to distant organs, usually the lungs or bones. The outlook in metastatic liver disease is poor because there is usually concurrent liver disease, and the treatment options are limited. According to the ACS, these cancers are usually not treatable by surgery, but there are still several treatment options available.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy is the use of drugs that disrupt particular structures and functions in cancer cells. Sorafenib is a drug that blocks the activity of growth-enhancing molecules on the surface of liver cancer cells and interferes with the cells' development of new blood vessels for growth and spread. The drug is used in metastatic liver cancer in people with good liver function. Doctors administer sorafenib as a pill.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells and stop their growth and spread. In metastatic liver cancer, doctors use systemic chemotherapy involving the intravenous injection of drugs that affect the whole body. Drugs used in liver cancer chemotherapy are limited to a few because, according to the ACS, liver cancer resists most chemotherapy. Those that are still effective are 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin and cisplatin.
In a few cases, doctors attempt hepatic artery infusion, or HAI, which involves the infusion of chemotherapy drugs directly into the artery in the liver, delivering the drug directly to the primary cancer site. Drugs used in HAI are floxuridine, cisplatin, doxorubicin and mitomycin-C.
Chemotherapy can also be used to relieve pain and discomfort of symptoms. This use is called palliative treatment.
Radiation Therapy
According to the ACS, the use of radiation therapy in metastatic liver cancer is limited to palliative treatment. Forms of radiation therapy available for use in metastatic liver cancer are external beam radiation therapy, or EBRT, and three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, or 3D-CRT. EBRT is a standard radiation therapy involving the use of external sources to focus a beam of radiation on the general area of the cancer. 3D-CRT is a more modern form of external radiation involving the use of complex imaging to get a clearer view of the cancer mass and direct the beam of radiation more accurately, minimizing damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
Other Treatments
Patients use complementary treatments such as analgesics for pain, multivitamins and food supplements in metastatic liver cancer.
The National Cancer Institute suggests that some patients may qualify for clinical trials, which test newer approaches for treatment such as immunotherapy, gene therapy and new forms of radiation therapy.
