Rehabilitation and follow-up care after treatment of liver cancer
Follow-up after liver cancer treatment is an important part of cancer care as chance of liver cancer coming back, or recurring, is greatest within 2 years. In case, a patient, has undergone a liver transplant, then the transplant team will also be involved in follow-up care.
So, apart from physical exams, cancer specialist asks the patients to get certain tests done, on regular basis. These may include: CT scan, blood chemistry test and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP); a tumor marker test.
However, if patients experience any new symptom such as new pain, swelling in legs or abdomen, yellowing of eyes, they are advised to inform their doctor immediately.
How often does liver cancer return?
Unfortunately, for many people with liver cancer, the cancer may never go away completely. Infact, it might come back in another location. Therefore, these patients may have to be regular with their follow-up visits and tests, as prescribed. Besides, they have to strictly adhere to their treatment therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or other therapies to help keep the cancer under control for as long as possible.
Though cancer recurrence is common in case of liver cancer, still each case is unique and different.
What are liver cancer complications that one should take as a warning sign?
Bile duct obstruction, anemia, or bleeding are some of the complications that are result of liver cancer and one should be wary of.
Since, liver cancer is difficult to diagnose at the early stage, having an awareness of the potential signs and symptoms is the only way to find the disease early.
What is liver cancer recurrence survival rate?
Despite treatment, if cancer returns back after a period of time, it is called as cancer recurrence. It may come back in the same place where it started or in another near or distant location.
Devoid of its location, cancer recurrence means a new cycle of testing will have to start. This is done to understand cancer type, its stage, location and to decide best liver cancer treatment plan on which survival rate of any patient depends.
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