The liver has several important roles in the body that cannot occur without a healthy liver. Some of those functions include filtering the blood so that harmful substances are removed and passed from the body in waste, the liver also produces bile which digests fat from food, and the liver stores sugars which the body uses for energy. Primary liver cancer, which is a cancer that begins in the liver, can affect how those functions take place and must be treated aggressively in order to eradicate the disease.

There are three kinds of surgery that are most common in the treatment of liver cancer. One kind of surgery involves going into the liver and either injecting the cancerous tumor with medicine, or freezing the tumor to kill the cancer cells. Another surgery is a partial removal of the liver in which the surgeon removes only the lobe of the liver that has cancer cells. The other kind of surgery involves removal of the entire diseased liver and transplanting it with a healthy organ.

Radiation is another common way to combat liver cancer by using highly energized radiation aimed directly at the tumor. The radiation can be delivered externally; through needles or catheters; or through drugs that target the tumor. The way the radiation is delivered to the tumor depends on the stage of the cancer and the overall health of the patient.

Regional chemotherapy is the kind of chemo most often used for liver cancer. In this treatment, a pump with the medicine is placed in the body and the medicine is then pumped into the blood cells that lead to the tumor to kill cancer cells, or to keep them from dividing and creating more cancer. Another kind of chemotherapy injects medicine into the blood stream and the medicine cuts off blood to the tumor killing it. The kind of chemo the patient receives depends on the stage of the cancer and if it has spread.

With aggressive treatment, liver cancer is survivable. As with any other sort of cancer, the stage at which the cancer was discovered and if the cancer has spread are important factors determining treatment options and prognosis.