Liver cancer: Understanding side effects of radiotherapy
Radiotherapy for liver cancer can cause side effects.
These can happen during treatment, soon after, or much later after treatment has finished. Early (sometimes called acute) side effects happen during and soon after radiotherapy and tend to settle after peaking.
You might have side effects or symptoms not listed here, because everyone is different. They may also be caused by a different part of your cancer treatment. Research and support for side effects and late effects of radiotherapy is growing.
Joining a support group can be a positive way to share your experiences, feel less alone, and come to terms with the physical and emotional impact of treatment. Ask your treatment or clinical team if you need more support or have any side effects at all.
This page looks at early side effects.
How likely am I to get early side effects?
Before treatment you will discuss and sign a consent form with your clinical oncologist or therapeutic radiographer. They will tell you what to expect, and you can ask questions and discuss any concerns you have about side effects.
You can read different radiotherapy consent forms (HERE) based on the specific area being treated. These consent forms are packed with useful information about early and late side effects.(1)
When you consent to treatment, you are saying you understand that you have a chance of getting early and late side effects. Your team will use words like Expected, Common, Less Common and Rare.
This table shows what these words mean.
| Wording on the consent form | % chance of side or late effect | How many patients will get this? |
|---|---|---|
| Expected | 50 to 100% | Between half and all patients |
| Common | 10 to 50% | Up to half of all patients |
| Less common | Less than 10% | Fewer than one in ten patients |
| Rare | Less than 1% | Fewer than one in 100 patients |
Early side effects (during or soon after treatment)
- Feeling very tired or fatigued: You might feel very tired during and after your treatment. It’s important to get plenty of rest but sometimes you will still feel really tired, even with lots of sleep. Some tiredness can be caused by having cancer and having cancer treatment, and some can be caused by travelling to and from hospital every day for treatment.
- Sickness: Sometimes you might feel sick (nausea) or be sick. This is because treatment can affect the small bowel, near the liver. This doesn’t happen to everyone.
- Chest pain: You might feel pain in your chest if the radiotherapy is close to the chest wall. This is not a common side effect.
- Swollen stomach: You might notice your stomach getting bigger because of fluid build-up. This is called swelling or edema.
- Effects on the bowels: You might get more wind or loose, watery poo, or notice a slight change in how your bowels work. This is because radiotherapy might also affect parts of your bowels that are close to the treatment area.
- Skin reactions: You might notice a change in colour, swelling, itching, or changes in the texture of your skin where you’re treated. For people with lighter skin tones these changes can be pink, red or darker than the surrounding area. People with brown and black skin tones might have colour changes such as maroon, purple, yellow or grey pigment changes. Or the skin can look darker than the surrounding area. These changes usually improve after treatment, but this can take 4 to 6 weeks in some cases.
- Hair loss: you might lose hair in the area where you are treated. Often, this grows back over time.
What can help with these early side effects?
Here are some ideas you can try.
- Resting: Get lots of sleep and take breaks if you feel tired.
- Managing Bowel Problems: Professional advice on what food and drink you can have can help. You can also take medicine to help with diarrhea and any sickness. Tell your treatment team of any changes.
- Keeping active: Gentle movement can help you feel better, both during and after treatment. Your treatment team can tell you what is safe for you to do.
- Drinking fluids: Drinking plenty of fluids such as water, juice and squash can help with fatigue and tiredness caused by your treatment. It can also help flush out toxins in your body caused by treatment. You can try diluted juice if you don’t like water.
- Skin reactions: Your treatment team can suggest creams to soothe your skin. Sometimes, extra care is needed if the skin breaks down in the treatment area. Wear loose clothing and stay out of the sun.
- Medications: If you have symptoms like nausea, pain, or skin reactions, your team can prescribe you medicines to help make these better.
- Alcohol use: Please follow the NHS guidelines on safe drinking levels and any instructions you get from your team on what is right for you, your diagnosis and your treatment. If in doubt, please ask your team.
- Sexual changes: Talk to your team if you are experiencing issues with sex and cancer and they can offer advice.
- Stop smoking: If you are looking to stop or reduce smoking, there are services available to help you.
Click here to learn more about late effects.
Further information
Learn more about side effects and support here:
Pelvic Radiation Disease Association
Learn more about radiotherapy consent forms here:
https://www.rcr.ac.uk/our-services/management-service-delivery/national-radiotherapy-consent-forms/
