Jamie,
I am sorry to about your Mom. The info from the prior responses is fairly accurate. You did not mention what type of cancer your mom had. There is adenocarcinoma and islet cell/neuroendocrine. The prognosis for adneocarcinom is not very good, as it is usually very agressive and does not respond to chemo very well. There are several types of islet cell. From what I have found is that they can be low, low to moderate, moderate to high, and high grade. This refers to to the growth rate. If the tumor is somatostatin expressing they will be able to track growth and mets with an octreotide scan. Also a ct or mri will be needed to measure the size and interval growth. One the cancer has spread from the original site there is very little chance of a cure. If the growth is limited to the liver and the cancer is of a low grade, the prognosis is pretty good. There are several modes of treatment that can lead to many years of normal life. There is radiofrequency ablation, cryo ablation, SIR Spheres, oral chemo and if somatostatin expressing PRRT. They take a somatostatin molecule and combine either Lu 177 or Y90 (radioactiveivity)to it and it attaches to the tumor. The radiation is localized to the tumor and causes damage to the cells (ie cell death) and hopefully the tumor will shrink while sparing the rest of the organ. PRRT has been available for years in europe and has had very promising results. It is expensive, I was told that it was about 30 K USD. The only trial in the US that I know of is @ the University of Iowa @ Holden Cancer Center, however this study is limited to those under the age of 25. Supposedly, there is a submission to the FDA for a multicenter trial in the US per my oncologist @ Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa fl. I contacted the FDA, and that was like talking to the wall. They would not say anything except that if there was a submission, they would have to respond withing 30 days and that the delay was from an incomplete submission. I don't what is available in the UK. You may want to check out the following: www.pancan.org; http://www.prrt.nl/index.php?lang=en;http ://www.carcinoid.org/medpro/docs/Y90andLU177trialResults2005.pdf .
Wes