Drugs Used in the Treatment of Liver Cancer

Liver cancer has a varied list if treatments that include chemotherapy and targeted therapy. The drugs used in these different treatments are listed below.

Chemotherapy drugs used to liver cancer

Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer or cytotoxic drugs to kill cancer cells. It is often given as treatment in the case of liver cancer and the most common drugs used for liver cancer are:

Picture of a doctor using a syringe

Systemic chemotherapy drugs

  • Doxorubicin
  • 5-fluorouracil
  • Cisplatin

Chemotherapy drugs used for Hepatic artery infusion

  • Floxuridine
  • Cisplatin
  • Mitomycin C
  • Doxorubicin

Targeted therapy drugs used in liver cancer

Targeted therapy works very differently in comparison to chemotherapy. Sometimes they even work when standard chemo does not and the side effects experienced by a person is comparatively different to the ones experiences with chemotherapy.

  • Lenvatinib

This drug works by keeping new blood cells from forming. It used in cases where liver cancer cannot be treated with surgery or if the cancer has spread to other organs.

  • Regorafenib

This drug normally blocks several proteins that help tumor to grow or help new blood vessels formation to feed the tumor.

  • Sorafenib

Sorafenib is a drug that works two ways, it blocks tumors from forming new blood vessels and also targets proteins on the cancer cells that normally help them grow.

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