Liver Cancer Survival Rate | Prognosis | Stages

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It’s undeniable that the prognosis and survival rate for patient with liver cancer are significantly influenced by the stage of the disease. In general, the cancerous tumor at early stage is much easier to be treated and has better prognosis than when it is diagnosed at later stages. Moreover, the stage of the disease is not the single factor - there are also other factors that can affect the prognosis of patient. What else you need to know?

You might also like to know more about causes and symptoms of liver cancer, before continuing!

However, there is no data or statistic that can predict /tell exactly what will happen. In other words the statistic of liver cancer survival rate is usually only intended for general information (general guide), and it cannot be considered as any more than that, because you should completely understand that each case of cancer is unique.

What actually staging is?

Before deciding the appropriately treatment options to treat the disease, doctors need to know the stage of the disease. It is required to clearly find out how far the cancer cells have grown?! 

The stage of the disease is also used to describe how far the cells of cancer have spread?! So it is important to diagnose whether the cancer is still completely inside the liver or whether it has attacked other parts of the body!

Understanding liver cancer stages

There are some techniques for staging the disease. 

Staging with TNM system

TNM staging system is one of the most common methods for staging. TNS itself stands for “Tumour, Node, and Metastasis”: 

1. (T) Tumour: In general it is used for variable for the size of the tumor.
2. (N) Node: It is used to analyze whether or not the cancer cells have spread to the lymph nodes of patient.
3. And (M) Metastasis: a variable to analyze whether or not the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body (nearby organs /distinct organs).

With this TNM system, liver cancer is generally staged into four major groups; stage I, II, III, and IV. The following are four major stages of liver cancer – according the UK Cancer Research:

Stage 4 (IV)

It is the most advanced stage, which can be divided into two further phases:

1. IVA! It is used to describe for any size of tumor and there also may be more than one cancerous tumor. The tumor may also have spread to other organs around the liver, including the blood vessels. The lymph nodes are also already affected, but other parts of the body are not yet affected.
2. IVB! It includes all characteristics of stage IVA, but the cancer cells also have spread to other parts (distinct part) of the patient’s body (completely metastasized)  

Stage 3 (III)

In general, it consists of 3 further phases, which include:

1. IIIA! The cancer cells still don’t affect any other part of patient’s body, including the lymph nodes. But there is already 2 tumors or more, and the size of one of them is at least 5 centimeters or larger.
2. IIIB! This stage points to when the cancer may have grown into the nearby blood vessels, with one tumor or more. And like in IIIA, the cells of cancer in IIIB also still don’t affect the lymph nodes and have not spread to any other part of the patient’s body.
3. IIIC! Now the cancer cells have grown in the nearby organs of the liver. But unlike in stage IVA & IVB, the cancer still doesn’t affect the lymph nodes or haven’t spread to other distinct part of the patient’s body.

Stage 2 (II)

The cancer cells still don’t affect the lymph nodes and also haven’t spread to any other part/organ of the body. This stage can be either:

1. There are some small tumors (smaller than 5 centimeters in size), and they have not spread /grown into the nearby blood vessels.
2. There is only a single tumor, but it also has spread into the nearby blood vessels.

Stage 1 (I)

This is the earliest stage, therefore there is only a single tumor and the cancer cells have not grown into the blood vessels, and they also have not spread to the lymph nodes or any other part of the body.

Staging with summary stages

Liver cancer also can be staged according to the summary stages. SEER (the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) categorizes the disease into three major summaries of stage: distant, regional, and localized stage!

1. Distant! In general, this stage is the same as IVB stage which points to when the cancer cells have affected the distant organs /tissues. 
2. Regional! It means the cancers cells that have grown & spread in the lymph nodes and organs close to the liver. In general, it includes stages IIIC and IVA. 
3. Localized! This stage includes I, II, and some stage III in AJCC TNM staging system. In general, it means the cancer cells that are still completely inside the liver.

Life expectancy and prognosis for liver cancer

As mentioned before, how advanced the cancer when it is diagnosed is generally the most crucial factor for the prognosis and survival rate of patient. 

The prognosis for children with liver cancer is relatively better than in adults. Because the disease in adults is often diagnosed at later stages! Only about 10 percent (1 out of 10 adult patients) are diagnosed at early stages. 

Overall, about 20 percent of patients has 1-year survival rate (they live at least about one year after the diagnosis of the disease), and about 5 percent (in in 20 patients) can live more than 5 years after the diagnosis – according the UK Cancer Research.

Furthermore, some patients also experience cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) that is usually caused by long term infection or alcohol damage. For this case, the treatment of surgery is usually not recommended – but if the tumor is small, the surgery may be performed. And for patients with this case, only few people in this group that has 1 year survival rate -- more than 50% of them only live less than 3 months.

In addition, the following is a table of life expectancy for liver cancer from SEER:

Table source: cancer.org /SEER

The prognosis according to the options of the treatment

The treatment options are usually closely associated with how far the cells of cancer have developed (the stage of the disease). This is one of reasons why the treatment options that are performed in patient also will influence the prognosis.

For instance, the outlook of patients also may be influenced whether they are able to perform or have; (a) treatment options to control /manage the symptoms only, (b) a surgery or procedure to take /remove the tumor from the liver, or (c) a liver transplant!

The prognosis is usually best in patients who are able to perform a liver transplant. About 80 percent of patients in this group has 4-year survival rate (live at least four years after performing this kind of surgery).

Other factors that affect the life-expectancy and prognosis

These may include:

1. PS or performance status - it is a kind of variable to grade how well you are! 
2. Further factors that can influence the possible treatment options. For instance, how about with the health of the unaffected liver tissue in patient -- if it is also damaged, there is less chance to replace some parts of the liver that removed during surgery. Furthermore when the cancer cells also have spread into the hepatic portal vein (the major blood vessels close to the liver), this also causes less options of the treatment for patient!

*** Consult more with a specialist /doctor for in-depth information. Once again each case of cancer is unique!