All cancers can spread from their point of origin to other parts of the body – this process is called metastasis. Breast cancer is no exception and research shows that when this spreads to the liver, this reduces the chance of surviving 5 years quite drastically.
New treatments that are being developed at the moment are concentrating on specific surgery to remove as much of the cancerous tissue from the liver as possible. Radiotherapy is not really an option because the delicate liver tissue is damaged too generally and liver function can be adversely affected.
After surgery, some groups are trialing a direct infusion of a chemotherapy treatment such as paclitaxel into the artery that takes blood into the liver. This concentrates the drug into the tissue that contains the cancer and may prove more effective than delivery into a vein in the arm to take the drug all around the body.
New treatments that are being developed at the moment are concentrating on specific surgery to remove as much of the cancerous tissue from the liver as possible. Radiotherapy is not really an option because the delicate liver tissue is damaged too generally and liver function can be adversely affected.
After surgery, some groups are trialing a direct infusion of a chemotherapy treatment such as paclitaxel into the artery that takes blood into the liver. This concentrates the drug into the tissue that contains the cancer and may prove more effective than delivery into a vein in the arm to take the drug all around the body.