How are liver metastases treated?

Metastases are cancer cells that have travelled to the liver from another primary site. The team identifies the original cancer, reviews scans of the liver and other areas, and considers the number, size, and position of deposits. Chemotherapy may treat cancer throughout the body. If deposits are limited and safely accessible, liver resection can remove them; tumour ablation can destroy selected deposits with a probe. A multidisciplinary team may combine local and whole-body treatments.

Bowel cancer and pancreatic cancer can spread to the liver, but treatment depends on the individual cancer rather than the liver location alone. Jaundice or persistent abdominal pain can occur for several reasons and should be assessed rather than interpreted as proof of spread.

Ask which cancer started the spread and what the scans show in the liver and elsewhere. Keep a record of pain, appetite, bowel changes, weight, and medicines. Tell the team about previous operations, liver disease, and treatments already received. Report new jaundice, increasing pain, vomiting, or reduced ability to eat and drink without waiting for a routine review.

Get urgent help for severe abdominal pain, confusion, fainting, vomiting blood, black stools, or rapidly worsening yellowing of the skin or eyes. Contact your oncology team promptly if pain is not controlled or you cannot keep fluids down. Symptoms require clinical assessment and do not, on their own, show where a cancer began.

Where did the metastases originate? Are they limited to the liver? Could resection or ablation help? What is the purpose of chemotherapy in my plan? How will pain, digestion, and liver function be supported?