The treatment option depends on many factors, such as age, general health, personal preference, social circumstances, location and extent of the tumour. Generally, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the 3 main methods of cancer treatment.

Surgery involves removal of all cancer visible to the surgeon at the time of operation. Complete removal may not be possible if the cancer is large or if several small cancers are present in different parts of the liver. People with cirrhosis are considered eligible for surgery only if their cancers are very small. Cryosurgery, that is, destruction of tumour by freezing it, has shown promise in delaying the progress of the cancer.

In chemotherapy, anticancer drugs are injected into the bloodstreams that reach all parts of the body. This makes the treatment potentially useful for cancers that have spread to other organs. Chemotherapy, however, also damages some normal cells.

The use of radiation therapy is limited because of the sensitivity of normal liver tissue to radiation.