Cancer is a common and frequent disease that seriously threatens human life and health, and is an important scientific research topic in the field of medical science all over the world. At present, its pathology has not been fully clarified and there are no satisfactory treatment measures. The death caused by cancer is second only to cardiovascular diseases, making it the 2nd mortality rate of all diseases. In China, the mortality rate of cancer has jumped to the first place, and liver cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in China, which has been called “”king of cancer”” because of its short course, rapid development and difficulty in treatment. Therefore, it is very important to study the effective treatment methods for liver cancer, here we briefly introduce the common treatment methods for liver cancer. The occurrence of liver cancer, like other malignant tumors, is the result of multifactorial, multi-stage and multi-gene involvement. Infection by hepatitis virus, chemical carcinogenic substances, bad living habits, parasitic infection, genetics and environmental pollution are all considered as common causes of liver cancer. In addition, alteration of cell surface antigen results, inactivation of apoptotic mechanism, abnormal cell differentiation, mutation of oncogenes and oncogenes, and stimulation of intravascular growth factors also play an important role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma can occur at any age, but the prevalence rate starts to increase after 20 years old, and is most common between 35 and 55 years old. If liver cancer invades portal vein and hepatic vein, it will easily form cancer thrombus. Although there are many treatment methods for hepatocellular carcinoma, the treatment effect is mostly unsatisfactory and the prognosis is poor. At present, the main purpose of liver cancer treatment is to improve patients’ survival quality and prolong their survival period. Modern medical treatment of liver cancer Modern medical treatment mainly includes surgical treatment and non-surgical treatment, among which surgical treatment is the preferred treatment for early stage liver cancer. Non-surgical treatment mainly includes interventional therapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and so on, among which interventional therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the main treatments for patients with middle and late stage liver cancer. Surgical treatment Surgical treatment is still the first and most effective treatment method for this disease. The choice of surgical form of partial hepatectomy depends mainly on the stage of tumor and liver function reserve. For hepatocellular carcinoma of all stages with good liver function reserve, the long-term survival rate of segmental or lobectomy is significantly higher than that of small-scale resection of subsegments because of higher local recurrence rate after subsegmental resection. For patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with crossed liver function reserve, local resection is appropriate. However, for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, the effect of resection alone is poor, and postoperative combination with other therapeutic procedures is the key to improve the survival rate of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver transplantation has a poor prognosis for most liver cancer patients, and almost all of them will recur. However, liver transplantation for lamellar hepatocellular or hepatic epithelial-like vascular endothelial carcinoma has a better prognosis. If hepatocellular carcinoma is discovered accidentally during liver transplantation for cirrhosis, it can lead to long-term survival after surgery. For liver cancer without lymph node metastasis, the 2-year survival rate after liver transplantation can also reach 75%~80%. The main problem faced by liver transplantation for liver cancer patients is that it is difficult to determine whether there are tiny extrahepatic metastases before surgery. Meanwhile, most domestic liver cancer patients are accompanied by hepatitis B and C virus infection, and almost all hepatitis virus infection will be rekindled after liver transplantation, and the liver disease that occurs can be more aggressive than the original hepatitis. Therefore, liver specialization is not the first choice treatment method for liver cancer treatment. Interventional treatment Interventional treatment of liver cancer is mainly reserved for transvascular indirect route and transdermal direct route. The former mainly refers to transcatheter hepatic artery cannulation chemoembolization, which has become the first choice among non-surgical treatments for primary liver cancer. The latter is the application of ultrasound, CT, X-ray and other imaging devices to guide, through the nearest distance of the body surface corresponding to the tumor, the puncture needle or catheter is accurately inserted into the tumor (avoiding blood vessels and organs), and substances such as ethanol, acetic acid and Chinese medicine are directly injected into the tumor to cause cell coagulation and necrosis, or physical energy methods such as laser coagulation, condensation, radiofrequency heating and electrocoagulation are used to cause the death of the middle cells. Radiation therapy, i.e. radiotherapy, can shrink the cancer tumor, which has the effect of relieving symptoms and prolonging life. It is mainly applied to patients with fair general condition, good liver function and limited tumor, i.e. simple type II masses confined to the hilar region and cannot be removed by surgery, or simple stage III and partially sclerotic stage II patients without obvious jaundice and ascites. However, because high-dose irradiation can cause radioactive hepatitis and damage to the liver parenchyma, the radiation dose should be adjusted according to the liver function classification. This method has many adverse effects, such as anorexia, hypothermia, abdominal pain, nausea and general discomfort, and a few patients may develop gastroduodenal ulcer and refractory ascites, etc. Clinical attention should be paid to prevention and symptomatic management. Chemotherapy, i.e. chemotherapy and systemic chemotherapy, is applied to patients with good general condition and liver function, and is generally applicable to patients with diffuse hepatocellular carcinoma, mainly simple. As most liver cancer patients have cirrhosis of the liver, coupled with the poor organism and immune status in late stage, it is often difficult to adhere to multiple chemotherapy sessions, which also affects the efficacy. Therefore, chemotherapy must be combined with other therapies for comprehensive treatment, such as the use of multiple drugs and therapies that can promote the recovery of body function such as traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and moxibustion. 3.Traditional medicine treatment of liver cancer There is no name of liver cancer in Chinese medicine, but according to its clinical manifestations, it belongs to the categories of liver accumulation, bulging and jaundice. The treatment of liver cancer in traditional medicine mainly focuses on Chinese medicine therapy and other allopathic treatment. Chinese medicine therapy Chinese medicine has a very important position in the treatment of liver cancer, mainly through Chinese medicine to regulate the state of patient’s organism, improve symptoms, enhance immunity, resist or slow down the further development of the disease and improve the quality of life, especially for patients with liver cancer in the middle and late stages and with cirrhosis. According to the clinical symptoms of patients, Chinese medicine mainly identifies spleen deficiency, qi stagnation, dampness, damp heat, yin deficiency, blood stasis and other evidence types. There are also many doctors who believe that blood stasis is an important pathological basis of the disease, such as “Sheng Ji General Record” cloud: “the meaning of the tumor, stay and do not go, qi and blood flow does not lose its normal, the form and peace, or redundancy and congestion, then take advantage of the gap, tumor so born.” Blood Evidence” cloud: “Stagnant blood in the meridians, between the organs, knotted as obstruction.” In the “Correction of the Medical Forest”, it is said that “the blood in the belly and abdomen must be in the form of blood, and blood subjected to cold will condense into lumps, and blood subjected to heat will torment into lumps.” Treatment is to invigorate blood circulation, remove blood stasis, detoxify and disperse the knots. Commonly used formulas include Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang, Hovenia Anti-Plumping Drink, Er Chen Tang, Warm Gall Bladder Tang, Ping Gastric San and other additions. There are also clinical reports of single herbal medicine or single medicine as the main treatment, such as the application of beehive, Zanthoxylum, White Flower Snake Tongue Herb, Seven-leaved One-branch Flower, Half-branch Lotus and Xia Ku Cao, all of which can yield better results and are clinically worthy of reference. Other therapies The symptomatic treatment of other therapies in TCM refers to the application of other therapies in TCM to treat some complications and adverse reactions that occur in the treatment of tumors. For example, for pain caused by cancer, symptomatic treatment such as acupuncture, acupoint injection, Chinese medicine internal treatment and Chinese medicine external treatment are used to relieve pain; for leukocyte and platelet reduction caused by chemotherapy drugs, acupuncture combined with inter-ginger moxibustion or heavy moxibustion alone can improve symptoms faster and better until they return to normal. At present, the treatment of liver cancer is still mainly adopted by western medicine. For patients with liver cancer suitable for surgery, surgery is the preferred treatment method to control the development of the disease. However, due to the lack of specific symptoms in the early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma, it is difficult to be detected except for census, with high malignancy, rapid progress of disease, easy to occur early intrahepatic metastasis and mostly combined with severe cirrhosis. For patients who cannot be treated surgically, the main goal of treatment is to control the progression of the disease, improve the quality of life and prolong the survival period. Interventional therapy is a commonly accepted and effective treatment method that can improve the symptoms and control the progression of the disease. The role of drug treatment cannot be ignored, but there is a lack of effective and inexpensive anti-cancer drugs, and the clinically used anti-cancer drugs are often expensive, with large adverse reactions and long treatment cycles, resulting in a heavy financial burden on patients, which leads them to gradually give up treatment. The application of Chinese medicine can often receive better results in the treatment. In the clinical treatment of cancer, certain experience has been accumulated in the treatment of cancer patients. The treatment of liver cancer mainly adopts radiotherapy, chemotherapy and interventional therapy, and interventional therapy is a better treatment method. For patients with liver cancer who are not suitable for surgery but for interventional treatment, a set of comprehensive treatment methods has been gradually developed recently: firstly, Chinese medicine is used to improve the body condition to control the further development of the disease, which is the key step. Chemotherapeutic drugs have many adverse effects on the human body with high incidence, and the subsequent treatment is more difficult. Chinese medicine has relatively less adverse reactions and has significant efficacy in adjusting the body state, improving immune function and resistance to disease, and reducing the incidence of adverse reactions to radiotherapy, which is increasingly recognized by many oncology clinical workers. For cancer patients, especially those before and after radiotherapy, Chinese medicine has better advantages in regulating patients’ body status, improving clinical symptoms and enhancing quality of life. The improvement of body state provides guarantee for further treatment. Clinically, many patients have improved the quality of survival and prolonged the survival period after being conditioned by traditional Chinese medicine. Second, interventional therapy is recommended for patients with suitable conditions. As mentioned above, interventional therapy is very important for liver cancer disease control, which can improve symptoms and effectively control the development of the disease. Finally, acupuncture combined with moxibustion treatment before and after radiotherapy or surgery to improve the laboratory test index. Because after radiotherapy and interventional surgery, patients often experience a decrease in red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells, which affects further treatment and even endangers patients’ lives, moxibustion in Chinese medicine has a very good therapeutic effect on these adverse reactions. It not only shortens the treatment course but also improves the therapeutic effect. The combination of Chinese and Western medicine is more practical in clinical practice and is worth promoting.