Medically Reviewed By: Dr. Neeraj Goel, MBBS, MS, MCh (GI Surgery)
Designation: Director – GI Oncology, GI & HPB Surgery
Clinical Review Date: August 18, 2026
Hepatocellular Carcinoma—or HCC—is the primary medical term for liver cancer. It begins straight inside hepatocytes, which are the main cells doing the heavy lifting in your liver.
Most people who get it have had some sort of liver damage brewing for years. Cirrhosis, long-standing Hepatitis B or C, and fatty liver disease are the big culprits here. The tricky part is that early tumors do not hurt. Most folks only spot them by accident on a routine ultrasound or a scan ordered for an upset stomach. Modern treatments bring together targeted pills, immunotherapy, precise surgery, and transplants to get rid of the tumor while making sure you keep enough working liver to stay healthy.
Your liver is basically your body's engine room:
You cannot live without a working liver. That is why treating liver cancer is always a balancing act: we need to get rid of the tumor without taking away too much good tissue.
Most cases happen after long-term irritation leaves scars across the liver:
Having these risk factors does not mean you are guaranteed to get cancer, but it does mean you should get your liver checked on a regular schedule.
At first, you probably will not feel a thing. But as the growth gets bigger, your body starts sending up flags:
We need an exact picture of the tumor, its blood supply, and the health of your liver:
Your treatment plan matches the tumor's stage and how well your liver handles daily work:
If your liver is otherwise in good shape, cutting the tumor out gives you the cleanest shot at a cure. The surgeon removes the bad section along with a safe rim of healthy tissue around it.
The liver is the only organ that can actually rebuild itself. In just a few weeks, the healthy tissue that stays behind grows back to pick up the slack.
When the tumor sits in a spot we can reach with small tools, we use minimally invasive techniques to get you back on your feet faster:
For small tumors sitting in a liver that is already heavily scarred by cirrhosis, a transplant swaps out both the cancer and the damaged organ for a healthy donor liver. Suitability is figured out using standard medical guidelines.
For small tumors (under 3 cm) when surgery is not a safe option, we can destroy the cancer cells right where they sit using heat:
When surgery is not on the table or the disease has spread, medical therapies step in to keep things in check:
Liver surgery is all about finding the right balance: getting rid of the tumor completely while making sure you keep plenty of working liver. For early tumors, using robotic and keyhole tools lets us clear the growth cleanly through small cuts. Most of our keyhole patients are up walking the very next day and ready to go home in 4 to 6 days.
Yes. When we catch it early, treatments like surgery, a transplant, or heat ablation have very high cure rates.
In a healthy liver, we can safely remove up to 70% because it grows back so fast. But if you have cirrhosis, we take much less to protect your remaining liver function.
Healthy liver cells multiply and expand on their own after surgery, usually building back enough working size in just a few weeks.
Not automatically. While a high number can flag cancer, simple inflammation or active hepatitis can bump it up too. We always confirm things with a CT or MRI scan.
Primary liver cancer starts in the liver itself. Secondary liver cancer (metastasis) starts somewhere else—like the bowel, stomach, or appendix—and travels to the liver through the bloodstream.
