The tumor is confined to a portion of the liver that allows for its complete surgical removal. The tumor may be localized to either the right or the left lobe of the liver or possibly involve the right lobe and only a portion of the left lobe.
Standard Treatment Surgery is the standard therapy but depends on the relative health of the remaining underlying liver, since a person with cirrhosis of the liver may not be able to tolerate the removal of one-half or two-thirds of the liver tissue. Surgery also depends on the presence of a clear zone between the tumor and the neighboring blood vessels. Only a small percentage of people are candidates for surgery and, unfortunately, the majority experience a tumor recurrence .
Five-Year Survival 10 to 30 percent
Investigational
• The role for chemotherapy after surgery is unknown. Although Adriamycin is often recommended, no
systematic studies have been done to see if it increases the chances of cure.
• Similarly, radiation is often applied to the liver area after surgery but has never been proven to be beneficial in
