A Complete Overview On Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment In India

The advantages of Hepatocellular Carcinoma treatment in India are many. Traveling to India allows the medical tourist to access high quality medical care at much lower prices than in the UK and US. It also avoids long waiting times for surgery and other treatments and potentially allows patients to obtain procedures not available in other countries. Medical tourists find that the cost of their Hepatocellular Carcinoma treatment in India or any other treatment (including the return airfare, holiday and accommodation) leaves them with a total bill substantially less than they would have spent just on having the procedure in the their country.

What is Hepatocellular carcinoma?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, also called malignant hepatoma) is a primary malignancy (cancer) of the liver or a liver cancer. Most cases of Hepatocellular carcinoma are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection (hepatitis B or C) or cirrhosis (alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic cirrhosis). In countries where hepatitis is not endemic, most malignant cancers in the liver are not primary Hepatocellular carcinoma but metastasis (spread) of cancer from elsewhere in the body, e.g., the colon.

Causes of Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for most liver cancers. This type of cancer occurs more often in men than women. It is usually seen in people ages 50 - 60. The disease is more common in parts of Africa and Asia than in North or South America and Europe. Hepatocellular carcinoma is not the same as metastatic liver cancer, which starts in another organ (such as the breast or colon) and spreads to the liver. In most cases, the cause of liver cancer is usually scarring of the liver (cirrhosis). Cirrhosis may be caused by:

Alcohol abuse (the most common cause in the United States)
Certain autoimmune diseases of the liver
Diseases that cause long-term inflammation of the liver
Hepatitis B or C virus infection
Too much iron in the body (hemochromatosis)

Diagnosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma

Abdominal pain or tenderness, especially in the upper-right part
Easy bruising or bleeding
Enlarged abdomen
Yellow skin or eyes (jaundice)

Exams and Tests of Hepatocellular carcinoma

Physical examination may show an enlarged, tender liver.
Tests include:

Abdominal CT scan
Abdominal ultrasound
Liver biopsy
Liver enzymes (liver function tests)
Liver scan
Serum alpha fetoprotein

Some high-risk patients may get periodic blood tests and ultrasounds to see whether tumors are developing.

Hepatocellular carcinoma Treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma treatment maybe directed towards a cure, or focused towards palliation. When the tumor is small (less than 5 cm), limited to one lobe of the liver, without evidence of invasion of the liver vasculature and in a well preserved liver function, surgical resection offers a chance of cure. If the tumor is larger or involves more than one lobe of the liver such that it cannot be removed, liver transplantation maybe an option. However, the result of liver transplantation is more promising ( recurrence-free survival rates of 83 to 92 percent in 3-4 years) for tumors that are 5 or less than 5 cm in diameter with no involvement of the blood vessels of the liver and no spread to surrounding lymph nodes, lungs, abdominal organs, or bone. Achievement of this result is contingent upon a short waiting time between the diagnosis of the Hepatocellular cancer and the actual performance of the transplant, and, as a result, the listing criteria for liver transplantation have been modified to give priority to patients with known or suspected Hepatocellular carcinoma.

There are a number of other therapies that offer good palliation to localized (liver only) Hepatocellular carcinoma, such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) whereby a needle electrode is advanced into the tumor under ultrasound guidance and then attached to a radiofrequency generator and treatment is performed. Another modality is percutaneous ethanol injection (PEl) which is a low cost, minimally invasive and widely acceptable procedure. Transarterial embolization maybe combined with PEI. It involves the injection of a chemotherapeutic agent into the hepatic artery from which the tumor gets the majority of its blood supply. Chemotherapy has not been used routinely for patients with advanced Hepatocellular carcinoma; however, there are ongoing studies using single agents and combination chemotherapy. All of these methods have their particular indications, contraindications and complications. Hepatocellular carcinoma Treatment options are dictated by the extent and stage of the tumor and functional reserve of the liver.

Why choose India for Hepatocellular carcinoma treatment?

Medical tourism is providing Hepatocellular carcinoma Treatment in India at much cheaper price without any compromise to the quality of treatment. The Indian hospitals or medical care has been helping people looking for Safe, High Quality & Economical Healthcare option. There is general acknowledgement of India's formidable strengths on both the preventative and curative sides of healthcare sector. Apart from the modern and conventional methods of medical treatments, India is also famous for yoga therapies, Ayurveda therapies and numerous other therapies originated here. People who cannot afford to spare the exorbitant cost of treatment in ones home country can opt for Hepatocellular carcinoma Treatment in India without any financial worry.

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