Liver Cancer Survival

Question: Has anyone survived or knows a person who survived liver cancer? I need a good survival story about a person who has survived Liver cancer for a science project. does anyone know or knows a website with liver cancer survival stories?

Answer:  http://howtotreatcancer.com/ Liver Cancer Treatment - Know The Facts On the day of treatment, the patient is given a mild sedative and pain medication. The radiologist makes a tiny incision in the groinno larger than the tip of a pencilto gain access to the femoral artery. Using moving X-ray images (fluoroscopy) as a visual guide, the physician directs a thin, flexible tube (catheter) through the artery and into the main blood vessel feeding the liver tumor. The radioactive beads are injected and carried in the bloodstream up to the tumor, where they embed and slowly kill the cancerous cells. Hepatocellular cancer is more likely to develop in people with chronic cirrhosis. Your specialist may suggest a liver transplant if you have cirrhosis of the liver because of previous liver disease, infection with a hepatitis virus or from drinking alcohol. You will only benefit from a liver transplant if you have a single liver tumour that is less than 5cm across, or up to 3 tumours all less than 3cm across. There is an added difficulty of having to wait for a suitable donor. This can take months. During this delay, the cancer will continue to grow and you have other treatment to try to control it. Radiofrequency ablation procedure, electric current in the radiofrequency range is used to destroy malignant cells. Using an ultrasound or CT scan as a guide, your surgeon inserts several thin needles into small incisions in your abdomen. When the needles reach the tumor, they're heated with an electric current, destroying the malignant cells. Radiofrequency ablation is an option for people with small, unresectable hepatocellular tumors and for some types of metastatic liver cancers. Although the procedure has a somewhat higher risk of serious complications than alcohol injection does, it appears to provide better outcomes. A natural home remedy is one way to help you heal. It is a form of self-help. This is what the focus of my site is. First let me congratulate you on taking control of your own health. Not an easy task for some considering all the focus on modern medicine and the negative information on natural health. Treatment of liver cancer may involve surgery, interventional radiological procedures, and chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Individual treatment depends largely on the type and extent of disease. Alcohol injection. In this procedure, pure alcohol is injected directly into tumors, either through the skin or during an operation. Alcohol dries out the cells of the tumor and eventually the cells die. Each treatment consists of one injection, although you may need a series of injections for the best results. Alcohol injection has been shown to improve survival in people with small hepatocellular tumors. It may also be used to help reduce symptoms in cases of metastatic liver cancer. The most common side effect is leaking of alcohol onto the liver or into the abdominal cavity. Surgery is increasingly being used for patients with secondary liver cancer. This can sometimes involve removing a segment of liver. Alternatively, keyhole techniques can be used to apply extreme cold or heat to localized areas of the liver. By: User name - Peter Hutch Other Blog Review Diagnosis, Causes, Symptoms,treatment And Prognosis of Liver Cancer Liver transplant recipients with hepatitis B may need lifelong ... Chronic hepatitis B (HBV) is a common cause of advanced liver disease and liver cancer...   Read more... Research Finding Could Revolutionize Asthma... ( Use of Beta ... 26 /- The American Asthma Foundation ... ...,Research,Finding,Could,Revolutionize,Asthma,Treatme...   Read more... March is National Professional Social Work Month -Cancer news- Cancer patients and families face issues that may include: the emotional impact of the diagno...   Read more... How Jim’s son is surviving secondary liver cancer after many other secondary liver cancer care takers shared how their loved one passed away,; ...   Read more... Transarterial chemoembolization as liver cancer treatment

Question: Secondary Liver Cancer Survival ? My father has secondary liver cancer, it spread from his bowel - he was diagnosed with bowel cancer 5 years ago. He had 70% of his liver removed 3 years ago. He has had so many chemo treatments. Now he has been told that the tumours have grown and the cancer has now spread to his lungs. He is in his 70's and I am so surprised at how well he has coped with his illness. He does not think he wants to go through another 3 months of chemo. Does anyone have any idea of how long he may survive without chemo, or I guess even with it now it has spread further. Many thanks

Answer: From what you describe - you are looking at months rather than years - whether further chemotherapy is tried or not. Of course no one knows this for certain. I don't know the tumor burden that he has in his remaining liver and his lungs. I can only relate my experience from 20 years as a cancer specialist doctor. I saw well over a hundred people in this situation - - but your father will be different from any one that I saw. Every person is different. I can only give you a rough idea what you might prepare for. The oncologist caring for your dad can make better guesses than we can from this distance.

Question: what is the survival rate for metastatic liver cancer? Is there any better treatments available?

Answer: The survival rate depends on what kind of cancer the person has, if there are multiple liver mets and if there are mets anywhere else. Any better treatments than what? If we don’t know what treatment they have had how do we know if there are better ones?

Question: How is 3rd stage liver cancer treated?? What r the chances of survival??

Answer: Radiothérapie and chimio its not easy to handle painful sometimes location makes it difficult for radiotherapy but with médecine developpement its easier to handle for there are lots of other important organs that we cannot irradiate much Chimio makes you feel tired can be either pills or IVs chances of survival varey from one person to another hope in ur case he/she lasts as long as possible

Question: what are the chances for survival of someone who has cancer cells in the lungs, bones, liver and lymph nodes?

Answer: very rare, but it depends on the stage i would assume stage 4 and that means not long just keep comfortable. God bless whomever it is.

Question: what is her chances of surviving primary liver cancer? its my mum shes only just been diagnosed. shes 50 and in hospital because she is in pain without morphine. what is most people of that age's chance of survival?????

Answer: Her age has little significance on her chances of survival. What predicts survival is the number, size and location of the liver lesions, if there is portal of hepatic vein involvement and how well her liver functions. Without the answers to these questions it is impossible to even guess at her chances of survival. In general, the rates range from 2 months to 15 years.

Question: is there any treatment for liver cancer in india in any therapy or anyother alternative? one of my nearest has been detected liver cancer recently. please advise me if anyone knows its permanent treatment and advise me whether it is curable. If not what is the maximum survival rate of such patient

Answer: Depends on the amount the cancer has spread. It also depends on the availablity on a possible donor who might be able to donate part of their liver. The liver is one of those organs that a person does not have to be dead to donate. A portion of a liver can be implanted and the patient and the donor will both regrow what is missing. Unfortunately, the liver is tied into many parts of the body such as the lymphatic system. This gives the cancer a lot of opportunity to spread. The first order of business would be a round of chemotherapy to reduce the size of the cancer and attempt to kill off any possible spread of the cancer. There comes a balance though between treating the cancer and staying healthy enough for a transplant. If the patient becomes too weak from the chemo then operating is not an option until they become stronger. There are treatments that increase the red blood cell count that can make a patient stronger though that you can use during chemo to keep them healthy enough for surgery. Discuss all options with your doctors. If at all possible, the best cancer treatment center I know of is in the United States in Houston, Texas. MD Anderson specializes in creating 'cancer survivors'.

Question: metastatic colon cancer to liver- does anyone know growth rates if unresectable? I have liver cancer that may be inoperable and have read about new drugs which might shrink the tumor but I wonder what the growth rate might be if just left alone ie how much time do I have. Any ideas or general answers would help me get a feel for whether i need to spend big bucks trying to shrink but with no real chance of increasing survival rate or just leave alone

Answer: The first answer is right. The growth rate depends on several things, including how well differentiated your cancer cells are. The more poorly differentiated, the faster the cancer spreads, usually. In general, cancer in your liver seems to spread rapidly because the liver is a very vascular organ. However, chemotherapy can curb this. Listen, there are a couple different chemotherapy regimens for colon cancer with minimal side effects. Don't you think it's worth a shot? you only live once. If you hate it, you can quit.

Question: what are the chances of survival when cancer reaches the vital organs? my wife has breast cancer..we just learned that it spread to the liver

Answer: Yes she may survive my mother had cancer which spread to a few vital organs and she lives now perfectly healthy and cured. GOOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

Question: Any info for liver cancer? My father in law has a tumour,i think it's on the tube leading from the liver,if they tried to remove it there's a 50% chance he wouldn't survive the op. The docs given him 12 months. I have read liver cancer is the most fatal,with least chance of survival. If anyone has been through this,please can you give me some advice with what to expect. My husband is still hopeful,but i want to be well informed of the outcome so i can help,thanks. I think they said inoperable,so i guess they are saying there's no point putting him through an operation he may not survive.

Answer: i am really sorry about your father in law honey, we have just lost a very close friend of the family to liver cancer, there may still be hope for your much loved father in law has he had chemo to try and shrink the tumour? this sometimes works, our friend was sent home at christmas and told he would not make the new year, he passed away in july so he proved them wrong, i really hope things work out for your father in law, but if it can not be cured then i will try to tell you what we saw when our friend died, it really was not as bad as some cancers ( we have a family history of cancers so i have seen a few people die with different sorts of cancer) all was not to bad untill the last few week there was minimal pain and the pain he did have was controled by morphine, the first sign we saw was as the tumour grew so did his stomach he looked like he was pregnant, the main thing we found was as his liver became infected with the tumour he did become confussed so we had to take over his medicine, he also developed an intolarence to salt so we had to make sure all his food was cooked from fresh so there was no salt added, the confussion we were told was because of the toxins that are usually sorted out by the liver were building up in his body and affecting his brain causing him to be confussed, he also had problems with his legs and walking became difficult, he also got tired very easily, the last 4 days he had left he was hevily sedated so he didn't feel any pain the only down side is we were told he would not know who was there but it was a bonus as he slipped away peacfully in his sleep, the hardest part was watching someone we loved becoming so confussed, he did have occasions when he would fall out of bed and wet or soil himself, it all sounds scary but it really is not as bad as it sounds, liver cancer can be one of the most fatal of cancers but please do not give up hope, we were lucky we had the suport of the macmillian nurses and we found acting normally and keeping our sense of humour really helped, i pray with all my heart that you don't have to go through this, but if you do stay strong, be there for your father in law, but just be reasured that if the end does come it will be peacefull and your father in law will not suffer. best of luck honey your all in my thoughts you can all get through this, it will amaze you how strong you can be. good luck to you and your family.

Question: My friend had breast cancer it has spread to the liver, the doctors say it is at stage 4.? My friend is in and out of consciousness in the hospital. The doctors are actually working on fluids on her lungs. However, the cancer is not being treated. Why is that? What are the survival chances? Is there hope for them to leave the hospital,go home and get home care? Will they walk around normaly again. The mass is huge....what does this all mean?

Answer: Stage 4 breast cancer is not curable, but it is often managed well and women can survive with it for 10 years or more. You are not giving any information needed to assess the situation, but if she is in and out of consciousness with liver and possible lung mets it is very possible additional treatment will not help and it has been decided to treat her palliatively.

Question: liver and lung cancer? Somebody close to me has been diagnosed with Liver and lung cancer. As yet I do not know which is the secondary cancer or much about it. I do feel I have to know the survival rate. can anybody give me information on the survival rate please .This has come about in a matter of weeks. We thought he had a bad bout of flu.

Answer: Hello there.. how sad.. I know what you are going through... My mother has just been diagnosed with advanced stage 4 lung cancer which has spread to the lining of the Lungs and Lymph nodes and now Liver. The Dr wouldnt confirm life expectancy as they said they don't know as it is different for evvery patient. But we later saw the Cancer specialist and she confirmed 6-12 months with Chemo. As the Cancer has metastisised (spread) she couldnt have radiotherapy just Chemo and the chemo just provides pain relief and tests have show that it also prolongs life. it was a massive shock and is still very difficult but some people go out to work and never come home! at least we have this special time to show our mother how much we love her and to spoil and look after her. Life is never going to be the same for us again and I am sad when I think of the time when she will no longer be here. I have even taped her voice so that I can play it when she is no longer here! I am going to miss her greatly. Good luck. XX

Question: Lung cancer, Brain Cancer, Liver Cancer, Bone cancer? whats the survival rate on that after chemo and radiation? plaese let me know... stage 4 cancer....

Answer: Survival rates are based on the stage of the disease not the treatment. So you need to say what stage these cancers are.

Question: I am a kiddney cancer survival,? they took out my right kiddny at july 2006 , every thing got normal after that , they found yetsrday a small spot on the LIVER ,, what do u think that would be ?? they found the spot using CT Scan ,so they schedule for me an MRI next mondy ..

Answer: A spot on the liver doesnt sound good from my experiences. You where a lucky one to have your kidney removed my Mum was not so lucky. Mum was diagnosed with a 5cm mass on her right kidney in may this year. There first thoughts was to remove the kidney that was before they had discovered it had already spread to her liver and lung. It was VERY aggressive she pasted away sept 7 after a 4 month battle aged 60. I do know the liver is one of the first places kidney cancer will spread to. However, a lot of time has pasted since your kidney has been removed so it may be un related. Mum had 3 small spots in her liver when she was diagnosed (about 3 cm each) What other info have they told you?? contact me if you would like so info or support.

Question: grandmother has cancer in both lungs and in the liver....? we found out 2day that she has cancer in both lungs & the liver. the dr will do a biopsy (sp?) next week, so we should find out more-type, treatments, chances, etc. how do we cope with this? what are sum good ideas that i can do to help ease our familys pain? i know no one knows her chances of survival, but if you or someone you know has delt with this; what was the outcome? alot of ppl generally don't have long once they find out. she is in ALOT of pain all over, eats about 4 spoons of food a day, then throws it bac up, very tired, can't sleep & i can tell her breathing is short. she is on meds, but they aren't helping much. she is to start on a pain patch on monday. do yal know anything about this pain patch? for her to have it in both lungs and liver, what do you think? should i be looking for the worst or what? i know i should have faith, but it's not easy. we had our eyes on grandaddy,didn't know it was grandmomma that needed it to. i feel honored 2 have 2 g-parents living :>).. she was told she had reflux a long time ago. so, for years she thought it was reflux and maybe her gallbladder. now she finds out different...:>(

Answer: Cancer in one area can be operated on or treated with radiation and chemo. Once the cancer has spread, the chances of recovery lessen. If it goes from one area to another, there is also a chance it could also spread beyond that. The best thing to do now is to try to make her as comfortable as possible and let her decide if she wants this chemo and radiation. The doctors can give her pain medication, but that will also lessen how alert she may be if someone visits her and the doctors will have to determine the strength ,since it might slow her breathing...maybe that is why they decided to use the patch which is absorbed through the skin instead of direct injection. The doctor can order other methods of feeding her through a feeding tube going through her nose or directly into your stomach. If she is home, they do have supplemental liquid nutrition they can give her and also anti-nausea medication to help her keep the food down. This also is her decision whether this will be done. If someone in your family, has a advance directive, they may be able to speak in her behalf and directly to the doctors about her. Advance directives are free on line for the state you live in and it is a real blessing to have it filled out and signed right away as privacy laws can be a very real pain. Cancer isn't always the fast growing type, it depends on how agressive this cancer is. This might be two separate cancers or one that has gone to another area. Usually, they call the cancer by the name of the organ it "originated" in. In other words, if this started in the liver, it would be called hepatic cancer. If in the lung, pulmonary cancer. Since you said the doctor is doing a biopsy...he should be able to tell you what stage the cancer is in and how aggressive it is. Not all tumors or nodules are cancerous, they can be benign. Being with her and helping her anyway you can is the best she can have right now. Having loved ones around her will not only comfort her, but give her peace and the support she needs to either pull through all this or pass on. Some people becomes so emotional through times like this and shy away from being with them as much as possible because of their own feelings. It is best to put your feeling aside and be with her and speak with her... alone if you need to. It sounds like your granddad is going to need as much support also. Children are able to handle alot more than adults give them credit for. Death is a natural part of life and they should not be kept from observing what is happening and explaining to them as gently as possible about it. They should know also, that eventually everyone dies and it is a very real part of life to see others die that they love. To let them know that you are not going to leave them now, that you will be there to help them through this is what they need to hear. This is a learning experience for them and it gives you the opportunity to not make them frightened of it, if it should take place. If she decides she wants to be at home, I would consider a hospice for her. You may also be able to get in touch with the area of the aging in your area, they provide many services for the elderly that many people don't know about. http://www.aoa.dhhs.gov/eldfam/eldfam.asp This is just my personal opinions. Best wishes to you and your whole family.

Question: What is the survival rate of a person with Stage 4 breast cancer who just suffered a stroke? A 48 year old woman, diagnosed on 12/4/08 with stage 4 breast cancer (mets to brain, lungs, liver and spine) suffered a stroke on 1/30/09, during a chemotherapy treatment. The stroke left her paralyzed on her left side, with limited mobility in her hand/arm/shoulder. She can't walk, and she has "mental mis-fires." Her family (particularly her mother) is in denial about the grimness of her condition. Her husband (they're somewhat estranged, but he is "doing the right thing") wants to put her in a rehab/hospice setting, because she can't climb stairs. (They live in an old rowhouse. . .no bathroom on the main floor.) Her mother, on the other hand, has come up with this crazy idea to rent an apartment and care for her there. ????? Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this? What is this woman's realistic survival rate? Would hospice be the appropriate move at this point? Her survival was said to be about 2 months, which it has already been. X-rays of lungs show that they are completely covered with cancer cells. The doctor has suggested hospice/rehab. . . .but her mother doesn't want that. Prairie Girl. . .I told them the very same thing, but was treated like I was nuts. My dad had a stroke, but survived 10 years afterwards. He was a total invalid. My mother insisted on caring for him at home. That lasted about two years, and took a huge toll on ALL of us, as we were required to chip in with his care. My brother (49) died of lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain, liver and bones. My sister just last year died of kidney failure at age 60. All three were in hospice at the end of there lives, as it was extremely difficult--physically, as well as emotionally--to care for them at home. Unfortunately, her mother does not respect anyone's opinion except her own. Thought "maybe it's me" for a minute. . . .and very sorry to hear about your Dad.

Answer: Stage 4 usually means a very limited time is left. Her mother loves her and wants to help her, but she isn't realizing how much care she's going to need. It would be better for her to be in Hospice and have her mother be there to enjoy the time they have left together. My dad had lung cancer and when they realized it had spread to his brain he only lived 6 more weeks. It's a very sad situation. Be there for your friend in any way you can, because your time together is limited.