RATIONALE: Learning about quality of life in patients with cancer undergoing embolization may help doctors learn about the side effects of treatment and plan the best treatment.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying quality of life in patients undergoing embolization using yttrium Y 90 glass microspheres for primary or metastatic liver cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Assess the quality of life (QOL) as defined by the presence or absence of physical, social, emotional, and functional distress in patients with primary or metastatic liver cancer undergoing treatment with radioembolization or transcatheter arterial embolization.
• Compare the time course of QOL measures between treatment groups in patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the time course of QOL measures between patient subgroups defined by pre-treatment quality of life or tumor burden.

OUTLINE: Patients complete FACT-Hep version 4 surveys on quality of life prior to initiation of embolization, and at 2 weeks and 1 month after completion of embolization.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of primary hepatocellular cancer or metastatic liver cancer
• Planning radioembolization or transcatheter arterial embolization using yttrium Y 90 glass microspheres
• No encephalopathy

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-2
• Bilirubin ≤ 3 mg/dL
• Able to comply with study procedures

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• No prior treatment with radioembolization or transcatheter arterial embolization

Patients with a diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma being treated with either TACE, RFA, or Y90.