Liver Cancer Questions

1. Can I give my father a diuretic to help with the swelling in his feet caused by liver cancer?

   You can always ask your doctor for a diuretic and see if it works. There's no serious danger, but it may not do your father much good, and there are some potential side effects. Diuretics work well for most kinds of fluid retention because they cause the kidneys to excrete more fluid...
   1 Expert Answer

2. What's the prognosis with a liver cancer diagnosis?

   When someone you know has been diagnosed with liver cancer, he or she needs to find out several things about the cancer:
   1 Expert Answer, 2 Community Answers

3. Stage 4 Liver Cancer and All Treatment Options Have Been Exhausted. What's Next?

   Hi Kelly, It's difficult to know what the doctor meant exactly by "ride it out," but likely it means that no further options for treatment of the cancer remain. At this time, your role as a caregiver will change from active treatment to comfort care. The focus will shift to quality of life issues, like pain, nausea and anxiety...
   1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

4. Is it possible to have liver cancer with no symptoms?

   Yes, it is possible, and even probable to have no symptoms of liver cancer. Or, a patient could have non-specific symptoms -- like your father's weakness and pain that could be attributed to something else. This is one of the reasons that when discovered diseases like liver cancer, pancreatic cancerr, and ovarian cancer are often late stage...
   1 Expert Answer

5. How long will chemoembolization last?

   Chemoembolization is an image-guided minimally invasive procedure in which a liver tumor is treated by injecting a high concentration of chemotherapy directly into the tumor, then cutting off the blood flow to the tumor (embolization). It's typically done in the hospital using either an intravenous sedative or anesthesia...
   1 Expert Answer, 3 Community Answers

6. Does it sound like my father with stage 4 cancer is dying?

   Dear Jo182,I wish doctors were better at talking about these issues, so that those of us caring for parents and loved ones with cancer had the information we need to make difficult decisions. It sounds like you're going to need to have a conversation with your parents, and ask them to relate in as much detail as possible what your father's doctor has said...
   1 Expert Answer, 1 Community Answer

7. What is the life expectacy with stage 4 prostate and liver cancer?

   Life expectancy with stage 4 prostate cancer varies greatly because stage 4 means distant metastases and they are often in the bone. These can be very painful but usually do not immediately affect length of life. You wrote that your husband had mets in the liver which is probably more serious...
   1 Expert Answer

8. Why is there this pain during chemotherapy?

   Chemotherapy medications may cause many different types of side effects with different people.
   1 Expert Answer

9. Are there foods that can help with treating liver cancer?

   There is a great cookbook called "The Cancer Fighting Kitchen" by Rebecca Katz - available on Amazon or many other internet resources, or bookstores. It is well researched to help the body by giving good nourishment to fight the cancer while helping the body heal. I hope that helps!
   2 Community Answers

10. How can I help my deal with the swelling in her legs, resulting from her cancer?

    My mother had leg swelling due to cancer she was put on a bloodthinner that has helped.
    2 Community Answers

11. What actors have died of liver cancer?

    I looked around the web and found a handful of deceased actors with liver cancer: Gregory Hines, Lee Remick, Raymond Burr, Jim Hutton, Bruce Adler, Larry Linville, Lydia Sum. Patrick Swayze and Michael Landon died after their pancreatic cancers spread to their livers. Jackie Gleason died of cancer of the liver and colon...
    1 Community Answer

12. Can you beat liver cancer?

    Beating liver cancer is a tall order, from what I've experienced in my family, but it's not impossible. For those who don't beat the odds, there are treatments (like radiation) that can slow the progression.
    1 Community Answer

13. Can you be born with liver cancer?

    I believe that you can be born with a genetic predisposition and/or liver damage that can lead to liver cancer later, rather than being born with liver cancer itself. A hepatitis infection, for example, could lead to cirrhosis and possibly liver cancer.
    1 Community Answer

14. How do I care for a liver cancer patient?

    I'm sincerely sorry to hear that someone you care about has liver cancer. This website can be a great help to you as you take care of a liver cancer patient; there are plenty of supportive people here to help you.
    1 Community Answer

15. What is the cause of death in liver cancer?

    The cause of death in liver cancer may be either primary liver cancer or secondary liver cancer (on the death certificate).
    1 Community Answer

16. What celebrities have liver cancer?

    Penny Marshall is the one celebrity with liver cancer I've read about. I also read that Rod Stewart's daughter, Kimberly Stewart, has serious liver disease thanks to alcohol consumption. Are there others who are living? (The list of celebrities with liver cancer who have died is pretty lengthy.)
    1 Community Answer

17. Can you die from liver cancer?

    Yes, you can die from liver cancer, and in fact most people diagnosed with liver cancer do die within a few years.
    1 Community Answer

18. How do you know if you are dying from liver cancer?

    I'm sorry if you or someone you love is dying from liver cancer.
    1 Community Answer

19. Will you die iif you have stage 4 liver cancer?

    I hope that you or a loved one hasn't been diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. It is the most advanced stage, and it means that the cancer has spread past the liver to other places like the blood vessels, lymph nodes, or bones. Most advanced liver cancer can't be treated with surgery, so dying from...
    1 Community Answer

20. What happens in the end stage of liver cancer?

    There's another question on this site about the end stage of liver cancer, asking how to know if you're dying from liver cancer. There I mentioned that the abdomen might fill with ascites, from the accumulation of liquid. There might be abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, and/or vomiting. And there will probably be increased jaundiced...
    1 Community Answer