Study of Palliative Radiotherapy for Symptomatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Liver Metastases

The purpose of this study is to see whether one dose of palliative radiation therapy directed to the liver in combination with standard BSC might help to reduce liver pain/discomfort due to cancer when compared to getting standard BSC alone.

The standard treatment for liver cancer pain or discomfort like yours is known as best supportive care (BSC) and includes pain-relieving medicines called analgesics. This type of treatment can help in some cases; however, some analgesics require a healthy liver to work properly. This means that there are many patients who have a hard time managing their liver cancer pain/discomfort with BSC alone. Sometimes radiation therapy is given in the "palliative" setting meaning it is designed to treat the pain/discomfort and not necessarily to shrink or eliminate the tumour. Palliative radiation therapy is often given when patients have painful bone tumours, but is not yet widely used to treat liver pain/discomfort. Palliative radiation therapy is usually given in smaller amounts and less frequently than other kinds of radiation therapy.