I am sorry to hear that your husband has liver cancer, this must be a difficult time for you both.
I am afraid that without being involved in your husband's care it is not possible for me to say what kind of treatment he should have. This information has to come from his specialist cancer team. However , I hope the following information will be of some help.
Primary liver cancer can be treated with chemotherapy but it is usually given in a very specific way called chemoembolization. This means the chemotherapy is inserted into the blood vessel that is feeding the tumour. It is a recommended treatment for primary liver cancer. However, I do not know if this is the type of chemotherapy your husband is having.
If the cancer started somewhere else in the body but spread to the liver then the treatment will be determined by what the primary cancer is. In that case chemotherapy can be given and would be given either intravenously or in tablet form.
Your husband's doctors will know how best to treat his cancer. It is based upon clinical guidance about how the cancer should be treated and about how fit and well the patient is to have it. To understand if a treatment is working it might be helpful to scan the patient, usually after a few cycles, to see if it has made a difference. Also, if a treatment does more harm than good a decision needs to be made if it is still appropriate to carry on with it. Sometimes the doctor and patient need to talk about carrying on with treatment.
If your husband has primary liver cancer you might find it helpful to look at how it is treated, you can see this information on our website here
If your husband's cancer started somewhere else in his body and spread to the liver then do check out the treatment for his primary cancer, you can see the list of these cancers on our website here
I do think that you both need to talk with his cancer team, in particular his Clinical Nurse Specialist about his treatment.
I hope this has been helpful. Please get back to us if you need any more information or support. You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.
