Is liver transplantation a common treatment for cancer of the liver?
Most cancers of the liver begin somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver. Most commonly, colon cancer but of course there are a number of other cancers that also can be metastatic to the liver, typically these are not curable with a liver transplant and thus these patients are not transplant candidates. Liver tumors that start in the liver, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, that have not spread to other organs can be cured by transplantation. However, if the liver cancer has spread outside the liver, the patient is not a candidate for liver transplantation. In patients with a single tumor that is less than 5 cm in size or have not more than three tumors all less than 3 cm in size can be cured with liver transplantation and have excellent long term survival.
