Hello Woody16 and thanks for posting,

I am sorry to learn that someone close has been diagnosed with bowel cancer and can understand this is a difficult time.

When a cancer is localised and hasn't obviously spread, surgery to remove it can hopefully prevent it from spreading and coming back later.

There may be a possibility that some cancer cells have already escaped and could potentially survive to spread elsewhere in the body. This is why additional treatment often with chemotherapy might be given usually depending on features of the cancer, the size and extent in particular. But at this stage there is less disease to tackle. 

Surgery and chemotherapy can sometimes kill off secondary cancers that have spread elsewhere in the body, but this depends on how much disease there is and how feasible surgery is. The surgeon would need to be able to remove all the cancer and this isn't always possible, surgery in multiple organs might not be an option. I think in general when a cancer has spread there is more of it to try and get rid of so just for this reason it is more challenging.

Primary and secondary cancers aren't always diagnosed together at the same time, more often a secondary cancer crops up a while after someone has already had treatment for the primary. In this case, if surgery is a possibility, the cancer cells might not be so sensitive to chemotherapy. 

Catching cancer early usually means diagnosing it when still small and before it has spread. 

I'm afraid I don't what the chances are of these shadows being cancerous or what the chances for removing the cancer completely and treatment being successful. This sort of question is best put to the specialist team involved as they know all the details. 

Please give us a ring if you want to talk anything over, our number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are here weekdays,  from 9am till 5pm. 

Best wishes, 

Julia

Thank you

Hello, and thanks for getting back to us again,

If the shadows turn out to be cancer and I can understand this has not yet been established then in some cases the areas affected by cancer can be removed. The liver does have the ability to regenerate when it is removed. Liver surgery is normally performed in specialised centres. A liver transplant is not normally performed.

Liver surgery is not suitable for everyone. Each case will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. A lot will determine on where the cancer is, and how much of the liver has been affected. Your friend would also need to be in reasonable health and able to cope with surgery. 

Other than surgery there are other treatments that their doctors may feel is more effective. Have a look at the different treatments that may consider using which include specialised ways of giving chemotherapy and radiotherapy for secondary cancer. Have a look at the different treatments here

www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../specialist-treatment-for-secondary-liver-cancer 

There is some more information on our website about how decisions are reached. This is based on a patient's general health, and how they would cope with the different treatments  Have a look here

I hope some of these links may be helpful but you and your friend are welcome to ring and talk any of this through with one of the nurses on the helpline.

The helpline nurses are here Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm and our number is freephone 0808 800 4040.

All the best,

Catherine