Liver Cancer
Understanding Liver Cancer
The liver continuously filters blood that circulates through the body, converting nutrients and drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into usable chemicals. The liver also removes toxins and other chemical waste products from the blood and readying them for excretion.
The liver Cancers can be
1. Primary liver cancer, that arises in the liver. Generally—HCC or Hepato Cellular Cancer
- Metastatic Cancer–Cancer which forms in other parts of the body and then spreads to the liver.
Most liver cancer is secondary or metastatic, meaning it started elsewhere in the body.
Primary liver cancer, which starts in the liver, accounts for about 2% of cancers in the U.S., but up to half of all cancers in some undeveloped countries. This is mainly due to the prevalence of hepatitis, caused by contagious viruses, that predisposes a person to liver cancer. Primary liver cancer is twice as many men as women, at an average age of 67.
What Causes Liver Cancer?
Primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) tends to occur in genetic cause, alcohol abuse, or chronic infection with diseases such as hepatitis B and C, hemochromatosis (a hereditary disease associated with too much iron in the liver), and cirrhosis.
More than half of all people diagnosed with primary liver cancer have cirrhosis — a scarring condition of the liver commonly caused by alcohol abuse. Hepatitis B and C and hemochromatosis can cause permanent damage and liver failure. Liver cancer may also be linked to obesity and fatty liver disease.
Liver Cancer Symptoms—
Liver cancer usually has no initial symptoms or may have vague symptoms such as fatigue, fever, chills, and night sweats. Eventually, symptoms may include:
- Pain, swelling, or tenderness in the upper right section of the abdomen
- Weight loss
- Loss of appetite
- Jaundice — yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes
- Itching all over the body
- Swollen legs
In the advanced stage, symptoms may include fever, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, general weakness, mental confusion, loss of sex drive, pain in the left side of the abdomen due to an enlarged spleen, and the development of skin lesions that resemble a spider.
Diagnosis-
Blood tests
- Tumor markers AFP — Liver cancers secrete a substance called alpha fetoprotein (AFP) that is normally present in fetuses but goes away at birth. An elevated AFP in adults may indicate liver cancer as it is produced in 70% of liver cancers.
- Elevated levels of iron may also be a tumor marker.
- Imaging with ultrasound is the initial diagnostic test as it can detect tumors as small as one centimeter.
- High resolution CT scans and contrast MRI scans are used to diagnose and stage these tumors.
- A liver biopsy will distinguish a benign tumor from a malignant one. However, depending on the results of other tests, a biopsy might not be required to diagnose cancer.
- Laparoscopy, using tools and cameras through small incisions, is useful for detecting small tumors, determining the extent of cirrhosis, or obtaining a biopsy, and confirm previous tests, among other things.
Treatment
Any liver cancer is difficult to cure. Primary liver cancer is rarely detectable early, when it is most treatable. Secondary or metastatic liver cancer is hard to treat because it has already spread. Most treatment concentrates on making patients feel better and perhaps live longer.
Patients with early-stage tumors that can be removed surgically have the best chance of long-term survival. Unfortunately, most liver cancers are inoperable at the time it’s diagnosed, either because the cancer is too advanced or the liver is too diseased to permit surgery.
In some patients, chemotherapy is given directly into the liver (chemoembolization) to reduce tumors to a size that may make surgery possible.
Prevention—
- Get immunized. Practice safe sex and avoid IV drug use.
- Drink alcohol only in moderation.
- If you work around chemicals linked to liver cancer, follow safety guidelines to avoid unnecessary contact.
- Before taking iron supplements, check with a doctor to make sure you really need them.
- Do not use anabolic steroids unless medically necessary.