Hepatocellular Carcinoma: The Final Moments of Life

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a wide world prevalent hepatic disease, being the third greater cancer related death cause and most of the patients are not eligible for liver transplant. Palliative care is an option for, in average, half of hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosed patients and only recently the molecular targeted drug, Sorafenib, has been introduced among the therapeutic options for these patients. The physical pain comes frequently associated with progression disease (metastasis). Patients may be very fragile, with immobility, loss of interest in food and beverage intake, as well as weakness and drowsiness. Therefore, it is important that health professionals start planning care with patients and their relatives, before the end-stage disease. Informing the patient about therapeutic options guarantee a doctor patient relationship improvement and more belief on the health team.

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R. Abreu, C. Ferreira, P. Nasser, L. Kikuchi, F. Carrilho and S. Ono, "Hepatocellular Carcinoma: The Final Moments of Life," Journal of Cancer Therapy, Vol. 4 No. 2A, 2013, pp. 377-383. doi: 10.4236/jct.2013.42A045.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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