Liver Cancer Treatment

This creates a delicate balancing act for effective treatment. How to manage the cancer and manage the liver? Our expert medical team is highly specialized in doing both. Not only will your treatment be tailored to your specific cancer — location, stage and type — it will also care for the health of your liver.

At Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, your individualized treatment plan considers the stage of your disease, your overall health, side effects of treatment and relieving your liver cancer symptoms. Because we are one of only two liver transplant centers in the state, and because we have the only proton therapy center in Georgia, we’re positioned to offer you a full suite of treatment options for your liver cancer. We have the expertise to do it all, and that enables us to find the best path for you.

Your care team consists of experts in the field of liver cancer: surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, hepatologists, transplant specialists, interventional radiologists and gastrointestinal-focused medical oncologists. They’ll review the treatment options with you, give you time to consider all choices and support you through the process. Once you and your medical care team have selected the course of action that’s right for you, we’ll schedule treatment immediately.

Liver Directed Therapies

Liver directed therapies are minimally invasive procedures guided by imaging and performed by interventional radiologists. These therapies may be used to shrink or eradicate tumors in preparation for further treatment. Liver directed procedures include ablation and transcatheter therapies. Ablation is the destruction of malignant tissue by directly applying heat, cold or energy waves. Transcatheter therapies include injecting small particles that carry chemotherapy or radioactive material directly into the blood vessels that supply the tumor.

Surgery

Liver surgery is a procedure in which a surgeon may remove, either laparoscopically or through an open incision, the tumor or parts of the liver as well as nearby affected tissues. If the remaining part of the liver is in good health, the doctor can remove as much as 80% of the liver and still have it grow back within the course of a few weeks.

Liver Transplant

In rare cases where a patient’s condition has progressed beyond surgery or other therapies, your physician may recommend removal and transplant of a diseased liver.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is sometimes used to treat bile duct cancer in addition to surgery and radiation.

Radiation Therapy

Liver cancer may be treated using radiation to shrink the tumor. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells. For bile duct cancer, radiation may be used in combination with surgery and chemotherapy. It may also be used when surgery is not an option.

Proton Therapy

For hepatocellular carcinoma or cholangiocarcinoma, proton therapy reduces unnecessary radiation to normal liver cells, which may reduce the risk of worsening liver function and enable safer treatment of more advanced liver tumors. Winship has the only proton center in Georgia.

As Georgia’s first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Winship leads hundreds of clinical trials annually. Our patients get access to new liver cancer treatments and medications not available anywhere else. Our ongoing research and dedicated liver cancer clinic are paving the way to breakthroughs for better outcomes for patients. If you’re interested in participating in a clinical trial at Winship, talk to your medical care team about getting matched with a trial.

At Winship, we believe that your treatment goes beyond medical care. That’s why we assemble a support team around you, one that includes nutritionists, social workers, counselors and others. They stand by your side to help you manage the emotional, spiritual and psychological aspects of undergoing cancer treatment. At Winship, you’re never alone.