pronosis of liver cancer

[thanhbinh]

my grandfather had liver cancer 4months ago.And he was treated by TOCE.i want to know about the pronosis of this therapy.and if possible, tell me details of the meds my rand father shoud have.thanks
Thanhbinh

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  Before we can discuss anything about your grandfather's prognosis, it would be helpful if you can provide us with details about his tumor (How big is it? Has it spread to other areas of the body?) and about his other existing diseases (e.g. liver cirrhosis, hepatitis B or C, heart or kidney problems) which could affect the prognosis of his cancer.

Hope to hear more from you soon.

[dianee]

My dad has cirrhosis of the liver and just found out he also has cancer by having a MRI. He is 78 and no treatment plan is going to be used. Did the cirrhosis cause the cancer?

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  The cirrhosis did not directly cause the cancer.  When the liver gets repeatedly damaged over a prolonged period (by alcohol, chronic viral infection, etc.), the repair process cannot keep up and becomes disorderly, which results in disorderly growth of liver tissue, which in turn leads to liver cirrhosis.  This disorderly growth process also increases the probability of accumulating mutations in the liver cells.  The accumulation of mutations in the genes of liver cells ultimately leads to the development of cancer.