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Liver Cancer

Chemotherapy or radiation therapy

Chemotherapy is treatment in which medications that are toxic to tumors are given to patients by intravenous infusion or in pill form. It has not been found to be very effective against liver cancer. Studies have not shown that chemotherapy effectively kills liver tumor cells or gives patients a better chance for survival. Using radiation is not effective either, as that damages the rest of the liver as much as cancerous areas.

As these techniques are improved, chemotherapy and radiation may be used more frequently in treating liver tumors, but currently they are not as effective as the other treatments described.