New Technologies to Target the Rise in Liver Cancer
Dr. Jeff Geschwind's research has contributed significantly to a therapy for liver cancer called transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). With the help from a grant from the NIH, he and his research team have improved the imaging techniques used for TACE, and therefore the therapy. He is now set on expanding its use to more patients and in clinical trials combined with chemotherapy.
Liver cancer is mostly asymptomatic in its early phases and often goes undetected until more advanced stages, when surgery is not possible, which explains why survival rates are so poor. And because the patient's liver is usually severely damaged by cirrhosis as well as cancer, traditional chemotherapy may kill the liver, along with the tumor. "That's why it's so critical to treat the cancer only where it actually occurs in the liver," said Dr. Geschwind, "and to protect as much of the healthy liver tissue as possible." That's the idea behind TACE.
