Liver Cancer
Liver cancer surgery
Surgeons at the Weill Cornell Medicine Meyer Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital have performed hundreds of operations for liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). If your cancer is operable, our surgeons will remove the part of your liver containing the tumor, using minimally invasive surgery whenever possible.
Liver transplantation for liver cancer
Some people with early-stage liver tumors may be candidates for liver transplantation. If this is the case, you can have your transplant in Manhattan through the NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and receive your pre-transplant and post-transplant care at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist.
Interventional (local) treatments
People with inoperable liver tumors may have "loco-regional" therapies such as chemoembolization, radiofrequency and microwave ablation, or radioembolization. In some cases, these techniques can make an inoperable cancer operable.
- Chemoembolization provides chemotherapy directly into the tumor via placement of a temporary catheter (narrow tube) into the main artery in the liver.
- Ablation is a minimally invasive treatment for smaller liver tumors (less than one and a half inches in diameter) which uses intense heat or microwaves to destroy cancer tissue.
- With radioembolization, tiny spheres of a radioactive substance (yttrium-90) are delivered to the tumor via the main artery in the liver to kill cancer cells.
Precision radiation therapy
Some patients with liver cancer benefit from intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which enables us to deliver precisely targeted radiation directly to the tumor while sparing nearby healthy tissue. We also offer stereotactic body radiotherapy, delivering pencil-thin beams of radiation to target the cancer.
Medical treatments and immunotherapy for liver cancer
Targeted therapies (also called biologic therapies) are drugs that inhibit cancer cell growth by blocking the molecules that fuel their growth or the development of the blood vessels they use to grow and spread. The most commonly used targeted therapy for primary liver cancer is sorafenib. We are now also able to employ immunotherapy for some patients with hepatocellular carcinoma — treatment which boosts the power of the immune system to find and kill cancer cells. You can receive intravenous therapies in our modern, comfortable infusion center, directed by medical oncologists and staffed by experienced oncology nurses who monitor your health and comfort during your infusion.
Expertise treating liver metastases
The liver is a common site for cancer cells to travel from other sites, such as the colon and breast. Our doctors have strong expertise in the treatment of liver metastases. We offer the latest approaches to improve quality of life and extend survival — including surgical removal, anticancer drugs delivered directly into the main artery of the liver ("hepatic arterial infusion"), and radiation therapy.