Further tests for secondary liver cancer

All medical tests take time and may be uncomfortable, so your doctor will only arrange tests that are most likely to affect your future treatment|. If it’s necessary to do such tests, your doctor will discuss them with you first.

Blood tests

Some cancers produce abnormal levels of proteins which can be detected in the blood by simple blood tests. These proteins are called tumour markers. They can help the doctors to find out where the primary cancer is.

PET-CT scan

You may have a PET-CT scan if your doctors are considering surgery as a treatment. This combines a CT scan| - which takes a series of x-rays to build up a three dimensional picture - with a PET scan, which uses low dose radiation to measure the activity of cells in different parts of the body. It gives more detailed information about the part of the body being scanned.

PET-CT scans are a new type of scan and not yet widely available, so you may have to travel to a specialist centre to have one.

You’ll be asked not to eat for six hours before the scan, although you may be able to drink. A mildly radioactive substance will be injected into a vein, usually in your arm. The radiation dose used is very small. You then need to rest for at least an hour so that the radioactive substance can travel through your body.

The scan itself usually takes 30-90 minutes but could be longer. You should be able to go home once the scan is over.