Liver Cancer Survival rate for patients

If you are a patient with liver cancer, you better get prepared for "trying to live with it", as the liver cancer survival rate is quite low, especially when you have a metastatic liver cancer.

Liver Cancer Survival rate for politicians and researchers

If you are a politician and you are concerned about people that are dying for no good reason, please allocate some money to get the liver cancer survival rate higher. Your benefits as a politician will be tripled:

• cured cancer patients because of you will surely vote for you
• anybody living longer and not being retired will still contribute by paying taxes
• anybody being cured will no more need to ask for social medical money related to cancer

Low liver cancer survival rates

When you look at treatments for cancer and the overall cancer survival rates: the liver cancer survival rate is low.

Especially when you have a metastatic liver cancer (which means you are in need of 2 cancer treatments). Liver disease survival rates are he worst when you have cirrhosis, followed closely by metastatic liver cancer.

Low liver cancer survival rate because of late liver cancer diagnosis

The main reason for the low liver cancer survival rate are the signs of liver cancer, or better put: the absence of signs of liver cancer. Early symptoms of primary, as well as metastatic, liver cancer are vague and not unique to liver disorders. This makes that there normally is a long period between the beginning of the tumor's growth and the actual diagnosis of liver cancer.

On top of that : at the time of the cancer diagnosis, the patient most likely feels fatigued, meaning that in a stage of recovery where you need all your energy, your energy levels are already very low. And low energy means:

• low energy to battle the cancer
• low energy to deal with a chemotherapy (the chemotherapy might as well kill you)
• low energy to battle the side-effects of chemotherapy
• low energy to cope with any other form of cancer cure

Liver cancer treatment is as complex as liver cancer diagnosis

As soon as you managed to be diagnosed for liver cancer, again there is no easy solution when it comes to liver cancer treatment. This lack of cure for cancers adds to the low liver cancer survival rate. The liver cancer treatment depends on:

• the type of cancer (primary cancer or metastatic liver cancer, the latter having a lower liver cancer survival rate)
• the stages of the liver cancer: (advanced stages of cancer in general have a lower liver cancer survival rate
• compared with an early stage liver cancer)
• the location and type of other primary cancers or metastases
• your age: the younger and therefore stronger you are, the higher the liver cancer survival rate

Taking the complexity of liver cancer treatment into consideration, a lot of time there is no "sure cure". The liver cancer treatment will mostly just try to cope with the symptoms of the liver cancer, which mostly means trying to relieve the pain caused by the growing tumor pushing against other organs and the ribs. In all these cases: the liver cancer survival rate is none.

Specific liver cancer treatments and their liver cancer survival rate

Surgery

Patients who can have their entire tumor removed have the best chance for survival. If the entire visible tumor can be removed, then the liver cancer survival rates are:

• for primary cancer patients: 1 out of 4
• for metastatic liver cancer patients: 1 out of 20

Again: few liver cancers in adults can be cured by surgery because they are usually too advanced by the time they are discovered.

Chemotherapy

Can be given through the bloodstream or with a tube (catheter) placed directly in the main artery of the liver: an implantable infusion pump will be installed, which allow for much higher concentrations of the cancer drug to be carried to the tumor compared with 'normal' chemotherapy carried through the bloodstream.

For metastatic liver cancer patients: their liver cancer survival rate here will be zero. Chemotherapy might prolonged there life for a few months but will not cure it.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy rays or x-rays to kill cancer cells or to shrink tumors. The liver cancer survival rate with radiation therapy usually is zero: the radiation can give short-term relief, yet liver cancers are not sensitive to radiation, therefore radiation therapy will not prolong the patient's life.

Liver transplantation

Liver cancer survival rate after liver transplantation for metastatic liver cancer is zero. Sooner or later the primary cancer will spread again in the liver.

Not well documented liver cancer statistics for liver cancer survival rates

As with any research, some money of the cancer research goes into liver cancer statistics. Yet the cancer research with a low budget, will a;so only have a low budget for their liver cancer statistics and spreading their results. Yet their could be some undiscovered gemstones there!

The following therapeutic approaches, alternative treatments and natural cures for cancer have not enough data to state their effectiveness due to:

• they are new
• they are alternative treatments, not having the same amount of funding to do statistics compared to the classical cancer treatments mentioned above. It is regrettable from any patients point of view that some research is given more money than others. Especially since the liver cancer survival rate from the conventional methods is way too low.

Other therapeutic approaches:

• Hepatic artery embolization with chemotherapy (chemo-embolization).
• Alcohol ablation via ultrasound-guided percutaneous injection.
• Ultrasound-guided cryoablation.
• Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies tagged with cytotoxic agents.
• Gene therapy with retroviral vectors containing genes expressing cytotoxic agents.

Alternative treatment and natural cures for cancer

Many patients find that alternative and complementary therapies help to reduce the stress associated with illness, improve immune function, and boost spirits. The less stress you have and the more "good spirits', the better you can beat any disease. Again we must repeat that there is no clinical evidence that these therapies specifically combat disease, yet as much can be said of the conventional methods having a recorded low liver cancer survival rate.

• biofeedback
• relaxation
• therapeutic touch
• massage therapy
• guided imagery

The advantage is that all these treatments have no side effects. They enhance well-being, something is most needed at the moment you hear that you are diagnosed with liver cancer and in the months to come knowing your liver cancer survival rate is low...

Liver cancer survival rate summarized

Low...The cure for cancer, especially liver cancer still has to be invented