This lengthens the time the drugs have to kill the cancer cells and it also prevents the cancer cells from getting oxygen or other materials that they need to grow. If surgery to remove the tumor is not possible, your child may undergo liver transplantation to replace the diseased liver with a healthy one from a donor. Your child may receive treatment that is considered standard based on its effectiveness in a number of patients in past studies, or you may choose to have your child take part in a clinical trial. Not all patients are cured with standard therapy and some standard treatments may have more side effects than are desired. For these reasons, clinical trials are designed to test new treatments and to find better ways to treat cancer patients.
Clinical trials are ongoing in many parts of the country for most stages of childhood liver cancer.
Chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumor followed by surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible. Direct infusion of drugs into blood vessels going into the liver. Chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumor followed by surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible followed by chemotherapy. Surgical removal of cancer that has spread to the lungs. Radiation therapy followed by additional surgery.