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We're Ready To Help
We're Ready To Help
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If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with primary liver cancer (cancer that begins in the liver), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is ready to help. Our experienced team of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who treat liver cancer is dedicated to providing the highest-quality treatment, counseling, and palliative care for patients with this disease. Our patients also have access to innovative therapies through our clinical trials.

For information about cancer of the bile ducts within the liver, visit the Gallbladder and Bile Duct Cancer information. For information about cancer that has spread to the liver from another place in the body, visit the Liver Metastases section of the Web site.

  • Our Approach & Expertise
    Memorial Sloan-Kettering has a long-standing commitment to improving the detection and treatment of primary liver cancer, which begins in the liver, with a goal of developing more effective therapies for this disease.
  • Our Team of Experts
    Information about Memorial Sloan-Kettering's liver cancer specialists, their education, training, board certifications, current publications, and specific areas of clinical expertise.
  • Overview
    Primary liver cancer is relatively rare in the United States. The most common type of primary liver cancer in adults is hepatocellular carcinoma. Approximately 16,000 Americans develop hepatocellular carcinoma every year.
  • Risk Factors & Prevention
    Viral hepatitis, alcohol use or abuse, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are the main risk factors for developing liver cancer.
  • Symptoms
    Many patients with primary liver cancer have no symptoms. However, in some instances, jaundice, malaise, or a general feeling of poor health, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, fatigue, bloating, swelling of the legs, or weakness may be present. Abdominal pain or discomfort can also occur.
  • Diagnosis & Staging
    A diagnosis of primary liver cancer is generally made with blood tests, diagnostic imaging, surgical biopsy or laparoscopy, or a combination of the above.
  • Treatment
    Several treatment options are available for patients with liver cancer, depending upon which organ is involved, how extensive the tumor is, and the patient's general health and age.
  • Our Clinical Trials
    A continually updated listing of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's current clinical trials for primary liver cancer.
  • After Treatment
    Coordinated care by a multidisciplinary team of clinician-researchers with experience and expertise in treating this kind of cancer and its related symptoms can help ensure quality of life for longer periods than have been possible in the past.

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