confusing blood work for HCC & HCV

I have had increasing platelet counts for the past few months, like from 41 to 68, and no other abnormalities in my blood work.  They were unable to do biopsy on tumor in liver because of position and other reasons, so no one is absolutely sure the tumor is cancerous. The tumor has grown from 1.51 cm in May 2010 to just over 2 cms now, which put me on the transplant list. How can I be sure the best thing for me is a liver transplant?  How can I be sure the tumor is cancer?

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

i would sat that this is unequivocally HCC.  In the setting of a cirrhotic liver, nothing should be growing over time except an HCC.  There are other treatments that can be considered including TACE and RFA.  We rarely biopsy such lesions as there can also be neoplastic seeding of the tumor track.