Treatments
Liver and gallbladder
The liver and gall bladder form a functional and anatomical unit. The liver can be attacked by malignant offshoots (metastasis). However, tumours can also form in the liver, which come from the liver itself or the bile ducts.
Symptoms
Patients can display completely different symptoms depending on the liver disease. Long-standing (chronic) liver diseases can become noticeable through changes in weight, itching and yellowing of the skin and eyes. Liver tumours, particularly metastases can also remain symptomless, and be discovered accidentally during other examinations.
Diagnosis
Diagnostic clarifications for liver diseases are very varied and sometimes extremely complex. An important examination is the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the liver. Often this examination can differentiate between benign and malignant tumours. Therefore, in some cases, even a biopsy of the tumour for diagnosis becomes unnecessary.
If it is a malignant tumour, the examinations should clarify the following questions from a surgical point of view:
What is the best treatment plan?
Can the tumour be completely removed by surgery?
Is the patient fit enough for such a treatment?
Treatment
The surgical removal of malignant liver tumours is a typical treatment, and usually leads to the best long term result. However, there are many other treatment options available alongside surgery. Depending on the disease, size of the tumour and previous illnesses of the patient, the treatment can vary. Accordingly, treatment plans will be discussed and created interdisciplinarily with various specialists.