Liver transplants and hepatocellular carcinoma go hand in hand. Liver transplantation is one of the many treatment options for liver cancer. Other treatments include:

-Being more conscience of what is happening to your body and genetically whether you have cancer in the liver is in your family. Treatment of liver cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma depends on the stage of the cancer. It also depends on your age and health.

-The focus of drugs used to help with liver cancer is to prevent tumors in the abdomen and liver from spreading and becoming worse.

-There is also treatment to have surgery to remove portions of the liver, and liver transplants.

-Freezing the cancer cells is also a procedure injecting liquid nitrogen into the liver tumor to stop in from growing.

-Heating cancer cell is a procedure as well, which is used to destroy the cancer cells completely.

-Injecting alcohol into the tumor. This can be done through the skin or during an operation to dry out the cells.

-One of the most commonly heard of treatments is chemotherapy, which is an anti-cancer drug put straight into the liver.

-Radiation uses energy to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors, and it may have side effects including nausea and vomiting. Targeted drug therapy which interferes with a tumor’s ability to develop and grow further.

Outcomes after liver transplant for one year is about 85 percent. It then drops to 60 percent when the patient is in critical condition when going into surgery. Liver transplant life expectancy for a child at five is about 80 percent and it is impossible to tell the exact life expectancy of a patient. And most all patients will still need medicine and follow-ups.

There are currently more than 17,000 people waiting for a liver in the United States. And each year there are about 5,300 liver transplants done. The liver is the second most transplanted organ in the world coming right after the kidney. And there are many complications and challenges coming with a liver transplants that not only the patient has to deal with but the family as well.

One of these challenges is finding a liver donor to give the liver transplant in the first place. This is a hard thing to find because unlike a kidney, a person needs there liver and there is only one liver in the body. A liver donor has to be someone who has died and wishes to donate their organs. A family member with the same blood type as the patient who needs it can donate part of their liver as well.

An orthotropic liver transplant is a procedure when a failed liver is removed and a healthy donor liver is put in. This is done when a donor has recently died and is the most common liver transplant procedure. There is also a procedure that is becoming more and more successful each year, it is a living donor transplant. It is becoming a procedure for more children who need a liver and is helping the shortage of liver donors. Liver transplants and hepatocellular carcinoma are in dire need of help, so become a donor for everyone whose lives need help.