Treatments for stage 0 liver cancer

Last medical review:

The following are treatment options for stage 0 liver cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery

You may be offered surgery for stage 0 liver cancer.

A liver resection (partial hepatectomy) is used to remove the tumour along with an area of healthy tissue around it (called the surgical margin). It may be offered if you do not have high blood pressure in the portal vein (called portal hypertension), your bilirubin levels are normal and there will be enough healthy liver tissue left after surgery.

A liver transplant may be offered if you have portal hypertension and high bilirubin levels, or if there will not be enough healthy liver tissue left after surgery.

Ablation therapy

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) uses electrical currents to create heat to destroy cancer cells. You may be offered RFA if you are not healthy enough to have surgery.

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is a treatment that injects concentrated ethanol alcohol through a needle into a liver tumour. PEI may be used on tumours near large blood vessels in the liver.

Clinical trials

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with liver cancer in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.

Expert review and references

  • Kelly W Burak, MD, FRCPC, MSc(Epid)
  • Vincent Tam, BSc(Hon), MD, FRCPC
  • Burak KW, Sherman M. Hepatocellular carcinoma: consensus, controversies and future directions: a report from the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver hepatocellular carcinoma meeting. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2015: 29(4):178–184. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4444026/.
  • European Association for the Study of the Liver. EASL clinical practice guidelines: management of hepatocellular carcinoma. Journal of Hepatology. 2018: 69:182–236. https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(18)30215-0/fulltext.
  • Heimback JK, Kulik LM, Finn RS, et al . AASLD guidelines for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma . Hepatology . 2017 : 67(1):358–380 .
  • Marrero JA, Kulik LM, Sirlin CB, et al . Diagnosis, staging, and management of hepatocellular carcinoma: 2018 practice guidance by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases . Hepatology . 2018 : 68(2):723–750 .
  • National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Hepatobiliary Cancers (Version 3.2021). 2021.

Medical disclaimer

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