Hepatocellular carcinoma

Arterial embolization involves injecting gelatin microspheres into an artery in a highly selective manner in order to block off certain small vessels. This leaves the tumor(s) without a blood supply. The treatment is usually repeated every six weeks as many times as necessary, which is usually three or four times.

Although arterial embolization does not require an operating room or anesthesia, an admission of two to four days is common: this is the time needed to control side effects such as pain, nausea and fever. Although not a particularly risky treatment, patients are often tired or have a mild fever over the days following the procedure.

Embolization is a treatment that can be used when other more resolute treatments, such as surgery or radiofrequency ablation, are not possible.

Applying this treatment offers patients higher survival rates and can even be curative. It should be borne in mind that the treatment can be applied only when liver function is particularly good.

Radiofrequency ablation is a simple, safe and well-tolerated therapeutic technique.

It is based on the application of intense heat to liver tumors, whether these are primary or secondary tumors (liver metastases).

To transmit this intense heat to tumors, needles are inserted into the liver through the skin, using a procedure that does not require general anesthesia, but rather deep sedation is used to make it less uncomfortable. Specialists use ultrasound to guide and position the needles in the tumor.

Once in place, heat-generating energy is applied for a few minutes. All tissue surrounding the needle, up to a maximum diameter of around 5 cm, is burned away. Therefore, this treatment is only suitable for tumors of 5 cm or less in diameter.

When the tumors are not visible on the ultrasound or when there are several tumors and the procedure will be lengthy, it can be carried out in an operating room through open or laparoscopic surgery.

Hospitalization time is usually 24 hours.

Yttrium-90 is a radioactive microsphere that is applied directly to the liver.

This treatment targets liver tumors and delivers millions of microscopic radioactive beads (radio- or microspheres) directly to the liver.

These microspheres contain the radioactive element yttrium-90, which irradiates over a very short distance (about 2.4 mm). Placing these spheres near the cancer areas ensures good control of the radiation area, thus avoiding damage to healthy areas.

The Clínica has one of the leading survival rates: over 90% of patients survive after one year following the surgery, and the approximate survival rates at five and ten years are 70% and 60%, respectively.

The Navarre University Hospital’s team of surgeons and hepatologists has performed over 400 liver transplants, with more than twenty living donors. This makes the Navarre University Hospital one of the leading Spanish hospital centers with expertise in liver transplants using living adult donors.

This is the only curative treatment for serious diseases such as cirrhosis, some cancers, congenital liver defects or metabolic disorders where the liver is deficient. It involves removing the diseased liver, entirely or in part, and replacing it with a healthy liver from a deceased or living donor.