Metastatic Liver Cancer Treatment in India

Sneha Roy, a 42-year-old primary school...

Sneha Roy, a 42-year-old primary school teacher and mother of two young children, had always been healthy. Her diagnosis came as a shock. For months, she had dismissed persistent fatigue and a dull ache in her upper right abdomen as stress from work and parenting. When she developed jaundice and lost her appetite, her GP ordered tests. A CT scan revealed multiple tumors in her liver, which a biopsy confirmed as metastatic colon cancer that had gone undetected. Her oncologist, Dr. Mehta, explained that while the cancer originated in her colon, it was now advanced in her liver. He recommended a combination of systemic chemotherapy to target cancer cells throughout her body and a targeted liver-directed therapy called transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to aggressively treat the liver tumors. The TACE procedure was intense; she was awake but sedated as a catheter was threaded to the liver's blood supply to deliver chemotherapy directly to the tumors. Post-procedure, she experienced 'post-embolization syndrome' with fever, nausea, and pain for about a week, managed with medication. After recovery, follow-up scans showed significant shrinkage of the liver tumors, allowing her systemic treatment to be more effective. Emotionally, Sneha was initially devastated, terrified of leaving her children motherless. The diagnosis felt like a death sentence. After the successful TACE and a positive response to chemo, she found a fragile but real hope. She joined a support group, focusing on creating memory books for her children and cherishing daily moments. The procedure gave her more time and a fighting chance, shifting her mindset from despair to determined resilience.