Most liver cancer is secondary or metastatic, meaning it started somewhere else in the body. Primary liver cancer, which starts in the liver, accounts for about 2% of cancers in the U.S. Most people don't experience signs or symptoms in the early stages of primary liver cancer.
“Although it’s vitally important and you can’t live without your liver, you can remove up to 80% of a normal liver safely with low mortality rates and the liver will actually grow back to normal size,” says Dr. Mark Bloomston, a surgical gastrointestinal oncologist on Lee Memorial Health System’s medical staff.
Dr. Bloomston says this regenerative ability opens the opportunity for advanced treatment techniques: like newly developed staged procedures involving chemotherapy.
“We can put radioactive beads into the liver, we can do procedures to trick the liver into thinking it already had surgery. So the good side will start to grow and advance,” says Dr. Bloomston.
In the coming decades doctors hope the number of liver cancer cases in this country will drop. Hepatitis C is a driving force behind this disease which is also impacted by alcoholic cirrhosis and morbid obesity. These are lifestyle issues which can be addressed through awareness. Until then, advanced techniques offer the best chance for a cure.
“And so patients commonly live for many years after liver surgery,” says Dr. Bloomston.
In general, survival rates are higher for people who can have surgery to remove their cancer, regardless of the stage.
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Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
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