What are the treatment methods for liver cancer?

  Early treatment is the most important factor to improve the prognosis of liver cancer. Early stage liver cancer should be surgically resected as much as possible. For large hepatocellular carcinoma that cannot be resected, multi-modal comprehensive treatment can also be adopted.  Early resection is the key to improve the survival rate, and the smaller the tumor, the higher the five-year survival rate.  The smaller the tumor, the higher the five-year survival rate. Because of the close follow-up after radical resection, the subclinical stage is often detected. Although liver transplantation is a treatment for liver cancer and has been reported more frequently abroad, its status in the treatment of liver cancer has not been confirmed for a long time, and patients often die of recurrence due to the application of long-term immunosuppressive drugs after surgery. For developing countries, it is still difficult to be promoted in recent years due to the source of donor and cost.  Palliative surgical treatment is suitable for larger tumors or scattered distribution or close to large blood vessel area, or those who cannot be resected because of combined cirrhosis.  Multi-modal comprehensive treatment is an active and effective treatment for mid-stage large hepatocellular carcinoma in recent years, sometimes transforming unresectable large hepatocellular carcinoma into resectable smaller hepatocellular carcinoma. There are various methods, generally based on the duplex approach of hepatic artery ligation plus hepatic artery cannulation chemotherapy, plus external radiation therapy as triplex, such as combined immunotherapy quadruplex. The best effect is achieved by triple combination or above. The tumor shrinkage rate of patients treated by multimodal combination therapy reached 31%, and the second-step resection rate reached 38.1% because of the obvious shrinkage of tumor and obtained second-step resection.  IV. hepatic artery embolization chemotherapy (TAE) This is a non-surgical tumor treatment method developed in the 1980s, which has good efficacy on hepatocellular carcinoma and is even recommended as the first choice in non-surgical treatment. Most of the chemotherapeutic agents are mixed with iodinated oil (lipiodol) or 131I or 125I-lipiodol, or 90 yttrium microspheres to embolize the distal blood supply of the tumor, and then gelatin sponge to embolize the proximal hepatic artery of the tumor to make it difficult to establish collateral circulation, resulting in ischemic necrosis of the tumor lesion.  Chemotherapeutic agents commonly used are CDDP80~, plus 100mg5Fu 1000mg mitomycin 10mg [or Adriamycin (ADM) 40-60mg], first intra-arterial perfusion, then mixed with mitomycin (MMC) 10mg in ultrasound emulsified Lipiodol for distal hepatic artery embolization. Hepatic artery embolization chemotherapy should be repeated several times for better results. According to the data of our radiology department, the one-year survival rate of 345 cases of large hepatocellular carcinoma that could not be resected surgically was only 11.1% with hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy alone, but the one-year survival rate increased to 65.2% with combined hepatic artery embolization therapy, and the longest survival was 52 months with follow-up. This method is contraindicated for those with severe liver function loss, and it is also inappropriate for those with portal artery trunk cancer embolism obstruction.  V. Intratumoral injection of anhydrous alcohol Ultrasound-guided percutaneous hepatic penetration to inject anhydrous alcohol into the tumor for the treatment of liver cancer. It is preferred for hepatocellular carcinoma with tumor diameter ≤3cm and the number of nodules within 3 with cirrhosis and inoperable. It is possible to cure small hepatocellular carcinoma.  Radiation therapy Due to the progress of radiation source, radiation equipment and technology, and the accurate positioning of various imaging examinations, the status of radiation therapy in liver cancer treatment has been improved, and the efficacy has also been improved. Radiation therapy is suitable for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma with limited tumor, and its efficacy is usually better if a larger dose can be tolerated.  It has been reported that the total amount of radiation exceeds 40Gy (4000 rads capacity) combined with Chinese herbal medicine for Qi and Spleen can make the one-year survival rate reach 72.7% and five-year survival rate reach 10%, and the integrated treatment with surgery and chemotherapy can play the role of killing residual cancer, and chemotherapy can also assist radiotherapy to play the role of sensitization. Intrahepatic arterial injection of Y-90 microspheres, 131I-iodinated oil, or isotope-labeled monoclonal antibodies can play a role in internal radiation therapy.  Seven, guidance therapy The application of specific antibodies and monoclonal antibodies or pro-tumor chemical drugs as carriers, labeled nucleophiles or cross-linked with chemotherapeutic drugs or immunotoxins for specific guidance therapy is one of the promising therapies. The antibodies that have been used clinically are anti-human hepatocellular carcinoma protein antibody, anti-human hepatocellular carcinoma monoclonal antibody, anti-fetoprotein monoclonal antibody, etc.  Chemotherapy The most effective drugs for hepatocellular carcinoma are CDD[P as the first choice, and 5Fu, adriamycin (ADM) and its derivatives, mitomycin, VP16 and aminoglutethimide are also commonly used. Individual drugs are generally considered to be less effective when administered intravenously. The use of hepatic artery administration and/or embolization, as well as with internal and external radiation therapy are more frequently used and more effective.  For some patients with intermediate to advanced hepatocellular carcinoma without surgical indications, and those who are not suitable for hepatic artery intervention due to portal vein trunk obstruction and some patients after palliative surgery, combined or sequential chemotherapy can be used. Adriamycin 40-60mg on the first day, followed by 5Fu500mg-750mg intravenous drip for 5 days, once a month for 3-4 times for a course of treatment, the effect of the above scheme is evaluated differently.  Biological therapy is not only to cooperate with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to reduce the suppression of immunity and eliminate residual tumor cells. In recent years, due to the development of genetic recombination technology, it is possible to obtain a large number of immunologically active factors or cytokines. Chinese medicine is suitable for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and those who are unable to tolerate other treatments due to severe liver function loss. It can improve the body’s general condition and prolong life, and can also be used in conjunction with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy to reduce adverse effects and improve the efficacy.