Possible HCC of liver.

Today we had a call from the hospital. Mike has been given a further appointment for a CT scan tomorrow evening.

[Bolly]

Have the hospital said what the CT scan is for? The MRI is more detailed and better for diagnosis of HCC.

[Hidden in reply to Bolly]

No they haven't. Mike had a CT scan initially, when the dr looked at results he said he wanted Mike to have an mri, to look for early cancers and at the blood vessels to the liver. The mri scan was about 2 weeks ago. Then we had a letter about possible HCC, and now he's to have another CT scan.

[Bolly in reply to Hidden]

It may be to check something else, as usually a CT is not as accurate as an MRI for picking up tumours, and if he has already had an MRI it makes no sense to do a CT to establish if the possible HCC is a definite HCC. Has he had an AFP tumour marker blood test done? This will be raised if there is a tumour. It sounds like they are proceeding as fast as the NHS can proceed before making any decisions on treatment. The MDT meeting may well have taken place by now, at my hospital they are weekly. Its a group meeting where everyone on the team; clinicians, surgeons, nurses etc all meet and review cases and decide on a course of action.

If you go on the BLT website there is a leaflet on liver cancer which is downloadable for free, or you may want to wait until you have a definite diagnosis one way or the other. You have to scroll right down to the bottom of the page to find the leaflet - quite a lot of scrolling, as there is a lot of information! britishlivertrust.org.uk/li...

[Hidden in reply to Bolly]

No AFP marker test done. Mike's had his chest, liver, abdomen and pelvis scanned.

Thanks for all the information, I will take a look at the BLT website and download the liver cancer leaflet.

Best wishes, Christine

[Bolly]

The chest etc scan may have been looking for metastatic spread, to lungs and bones is typical of HCC. So that's good news if it came back clear. Some people have transplant as an option, but this is a major undertaking and also means going on a waiting list for a procedure that may never happen. Surgery is an option if the "conditions" of the tumour, the liver and the patient are appropriate. After that its various forms of ablation to shrink the tumour. Chemo has a poor outcome as the main one used was designed for a different type of cancer and as far as I know nobody has developed a better one.

[Hidden in reply to Bolly]

It's a waiting game at the moment to see what or if anything shows up on the scans. Hoping we hear something fairly quickly one way or another.

Christine x

[Mare-M]

Hi,

I just can’t qcross this post. I know it was 2 years ago but just wondering how it all went? Was it confirmed HCC? What has happened since ?

Thank you.

My mum has just been diagnosed with HCC so I’m lookimg fo all/any information possible.

Thanks again

[AyrshireK in reply to Mare-M]

Hi Mare-M, it would appear that this member has left the forum. Have you had a read at the British Liver Trust page on Liver Cancer?

britishlivertrust.org.uk/li...

It might give you some more useful information. Sorry to hear about mum's diagnosis BTW, hope they can offer something in the way of treatment.

Katie x

[Mare-M in reply to AyrshireK]

Thank you very much Katie 😕😊