Chemotherapy

What are different treatment options available for treating liver cancer?

These are some of the treatments available:
- Surgery,
- Immunotherapy,
- Photodynamic Therapy,
- Hyperthermia,
- Radiation Therapy
- Radiosurgery
The best option for curing liver cancer is surgery.

Other techniques used to treat liver cancer are:
- Including inserting needles into the tumor.
- Destroying the tumor (ablation).
- Injecting a substance into the tumor to deprive it of the blood supply it needs (embolization).
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy

The best treatment for the liver cancer is based on:
- Age, overall health, and medical history.
- Extent of the disease.
- Stage of the cancer.
- Your tolerance of specific medicines, procedures, or therapies.
- Expectations for the course of the disease.
- Your opinion or preference.

Surgery
- Surgery is the only way to cure liver cancer.
- The most common type of surgery for liver cancer is resection (removal of the cancer).
- The presence of cirrhosis of the liver makes surgical resection less successful.
- It may require the entire liver to be removed and replaced with a donated liver (liver transplant).
- Surgery depends on whether the part of your liver that is not affected by the cancer is healthy.
- When part of your liver is removed, enough healthy liver tissue left is to be taken care of, to carry out all of the critical jobs of the liver.

Ablation
- Ablation destroys the tumor without removing it.
- It is a good option for patients with small liver tumors.
- This process uses high-energy radio waves, alcohol injections and very cold metal probes to destroy the tumor.

Embolization
- Tumors need the oxygen supplied by blood to grow.
- Embolization stops blood from flowing to the tumor.
- Embolization can be done by injecting substances that plug the artery.
- This is sometimes combined with chemotherapy (chemoembolization) or radiation therapy (radioembolization).

Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy drugs kill cancerous cells.
- It works by stopping cancer cells from growing or reproducing, which kills the cells.
- Chemotherapy may be taken by mouth in pill form or injected into a vein or muscle.
- Sometimes it is injected into a hepatic artery through a thin tube (catheter).
- This process is known as chemoembolization.

Radiation Therapy
- Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
- Radiation therapy for liver cancer is usually delivered internally.
- It is done by inserting a radioactive substance into the body.

Targeted Therapy
- Targeted therapy blocks the steps involved in the growth and proliferation of cancer cells.
- Targeted therapy drug may be taken by mouth or in a pill form.
- The main targeted therapy for liver cancer is a drug called Nexavar (sorafenib tosylate).

Hepatocellular Carcinoma
- Partial hepatectomy to resect the entire tumor.
- Liver transplantation.
- Cryoablation.
- Chemoembolization.
- Radiotherapy.
- Sorafenib.
- Radiofrequency ablation.
- Radiofrequency ablation combined with local chemotherapy.

Cholangiocarcinoma
- Photodynamic therapy.
- Brachytherapy.
- Radiotherapy.
- Liver transplantation.

Hepatoblastoma
- Chemotherapy, including vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin.
- Radiotherapy.
- Liver transplantation.
- Surgical resection.

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How to treat Bone Cancer by Chemotherapy?

Bone Cancer is the cancer that begins in the bone. Primary bone cancer is relatively uncommon with secondary or metastatic cancer. This is cancer that occurs initially in another organ and then spreads to bone tissue.

The most common types of bone cancer includes:
- Osteosarcoma,
- Ewing’s sarcoma,
- Chondrosarcoma,
- Malignant fibrous histiocytoma,
- Fibrosarcoma,
- Chordoma

Diagnosis of bone cancer:
- Check for a complete medical history.
- A description of your symptoms can help.
- A complete physical examination can help find the cause of your symptoms.
- Testing your muscle strength.
- Sensation to touch
- Reflexes
- Certain blood tests
- Plain X-rays
Benign tumors are more likely to have a smooth border while malignant tumors have a ragged border on X-ray images.

- A CT scan
- An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- An angiogram, which is an x-ray of blood vessels.
- A bone scan
- Obtain a biopsy sample of the tumor
- Get examined in the laboratory by a pathologist
- Determine what kind of tumor it is

What is the treatment for bone cancer?
The best treatment is based on:
- the type of bone cancer,
- the location of the cancer,
- how aggressive the cancer is,
- whether or not the cancer has invaded surrounding or distant tissues (metastasized).

There are three main types of treatment for bone cancer:
- Surgery,
- Chemotherapy,
- Radiation therapy
- Cryosurgery
These can be used either individually or combined with each other.

Process of Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy is given by a medical oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with medication.
- Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
- Systemic chemotherapy is delivered through the bloodstream.
- It targets cancer cells throughout the body.
- Chemotherapy can be received in their doctor’s office or outpatient clinic; others may go to the hospital.
- Treatment consists of a specific number of cycles given over a specific time.
- Chemotherapy for bone cancer can usually be given as an outpatient treatment.
- Chemotherapy is often useful for treating spreading cancer.
- Fast-growing bone cancer may be treated first with chemotherapy before surgery.
- This often reduces the size of the primary tumor.
- It may destroy tiny areas of metastasis if some of the cancer cells have spread to other areas.
- Particularly for osteosarcoma, treatment is required after surgery as it is not completely eradicated.
- These cancers sometimes recur as distant metastases (most often in the lungs).
- The use of chemotherapy has increased survival rates.
- For most high-grade tumors, chemotherapy is given for three to four cycles before surgery to shrink the primary tumor.
- This is done as the tumor is easier to remove.
- Chemotherapy before surgery may also improve survival
- This may kill cells that have spread from the original tumor.
- Chemotherapy can be used to better determine the prognosis.
- For Ewing’s sarcoma, this is the effective procedure

Types of Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy that is given before surgery is called preoperative chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or induction chemotherapy.
- After the surgery too the patient may receive additional chemotherapy to kill any remaining tumor cells. This is called postoperative or adjuvant chemotherapy.