Liver Cancer Diagnosis

It’s very important to get an accurate diagnosis of primary liver cancer so that your condition can be treated the right way from the beginning. Some tests that can be used include

• Blood Tests
• Diagnostic Imaging
• Biopsy
• Testing for Fibrolamellar-Hepatocellular Carcinoma (FLL-HCC)
• Genetic Testing of Tumors

Liver Cancer Stages
The stage of liver cancer you have refers to how far the disease has spread through your body. It’s possible that you’ll need additional tests to understand the stage of the tumor.

Information from staging tests can help us figure out whether:

• the tumor is in one area of the liver and can be removed
• the tumor is in one area but cannot be completely removed safely
• cancer has spread throughout the liver or to other parts of the body
• cancer has reoccurred in the liver or in another part of the body after it was eliminated with a first round of treatment.

We’ll determine the best treatment approach for you based on the stage of your disease. We also factor in whether you have other conditions that can affect the health of the liver, such as hepatitis, cirrhosis (scarring), or diabetes. If we find extensive cirrhosis or liver failure, for example, we may look to options other than surgery to treat your cancer.