Does any one know if a liver transplant is possible if you have liver cancer and what the survival rates are.?

Bladder cancer cells that chemo does not work as well orther cells and that have travelled to the liver and turned in to secondary liver cancer. How successful is chemo on these cells and how long can it increase survival.

It all depends on the extent of the disease. If the cancer is a primary liver cancer which hasn't spread to regional lymp nodes or distant site (metastases - commonly lung/brain/bone) then it is possible to resect the tumour which can lead to good survival provided the resection margins are clear. This doesn't involve a whole transplant just the removal of the affected area and is usually accompanied by chemotherapy.

If the liver tumour is a metastases itself - most commonly from bowel cancer, again it is possible to resect up to 80% of liver tissue and still have good function and survuval is approx 33% at 5 years - this is provided the original bowel cancer has been proven to be cured and there are no metastases elsewhere in the body.

As for a whole liver transplant for a whole organ infected with cancer... The chance of this occuring in isolation is actually rare, the cancer would have to be extremeally advanced to have affected the whole liver whilst not having been detected at an earlier stage when a selective resection could take place. If the cancer was this advanced then the chances of NOT having cancer spread to the lungs/brain/bone whould be tiny and so you wouldn't be able to remove the liver as it would be a futile procedure.

Also liver transplants are difficult and bloody operations involving the blood vessels that drain and supply the liver itself. During the operation liver cells can leak into the blood stream. If the liver was riddled with cancer these cells would simply travel elsewhere and therefore negate the benefit of the procedure in the first instance. (because the cancer would not have been completely removed)

I'm not sure on the stats for chemo though - sorry

think you may have to be a raging alcoholic to receive a transplant

so does that mean the bladder has cancer too? what would cause that?

i think we are thinking of a certain footballer

I wouldn't think that a liver transplant would be attempted if it was a site of secondaries. Its a major operation and not attempted lightly.