Indications for radical radiotherapy of liver cancer

Radiotherapy is one of the basic treatments for malignant tumors. However, before the 1990s, due to the limitations of medical technology, if liver cancer patients chose radiotherapy, not only would the treatment effect be poor, but it would also cause greater damage to the liver, so only a small number of liver cancer patients would choose radiotherapy.

It was not until the mid-1990s that, with the rapid development of modern precision radiotherapy technology, technologies such as three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy became increasingly mature and widely used in clinical practice, making radiotherapy gradually become one of the important treatments for liver cancer.

There are three types of radiotherapy for liver cancer: radical radiotherapy , palliative radiotherapy, and postoperative radiotherapy. However, not all liver cancer patients can undergo radical radiotherapy. They also need to meet the following conditions:

1. The patient's general condition is good, with the Karnofsky physical activity level above 70%.

2. The patient's liver function is within the normal range and there is no severe cirrhosis

3. The patient's intrahepatic cancer lesion is a single one with a diameter of less than 9 cm.

4. No cancer thrombus was found in the portal vein system by ultrasound, CT or MRI examination.

5. There is no distant metastasis to the cancerous site.

6. Patients who have no symptoms such as jaundice or ascites, or whose jaundice or ascites can be controlled for a long time after treatment. In addition, obstructive jaundice caused by local factors can also be considered.

7. The patient had no bleeding tendency, hepatic encephalopathy, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, or other serious complications.