Liver canceris a punch in of cancer in which cells in the liver grow and divide too fast.
These cells can invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of your body.
There is more than one bang out of liver cancer.
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Liver cancer that begins in the liver is called primary liver cancer.
Cancer that starts elsewhere and spreads (metastasizes) to your liver is more common.
Breast cancer that spreads to your liver is called metastatic breast cancer, not liver cancer.
While there is no known cause for liver cancer, there are several known risk factors.
There are many options for treatment, though.
Tumor size and location affect your choices for treatment.
This article discusses liver cancer types, symptoms, causes, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment.
Your liver is the largest solid organ in your body.
It performs more than 500 tasks.
Liver Cancer Symptoms
Many commonsymptoms of liver cancerare not unique to this disease.
Most symptoms don’t appear until the later stages of the disease, when a liver tumor develops.
Having your symptoms diagnosed early allows you to get treatment when it can be most effective.
These hormones may cause the following symptoms, calledparaneoplasticsyndromes:
What Causes Liver Cancer?
The specificcauses of liver cancerare not known.
Liver cancer happens when a cell’s DNA changes so that it becomes cancerous.
DNA contains the genes that tell cells how to grow, multiply, and die.
Abnormal liver cells begin to multiply uncontrollably and live longer than they should.
These cancerous liver cells can spread into surrounding tissue and eventually travel to other parts of your body.
Liver cancer may have genetic or hereditary causes that you’re free to’t control.
However, it is also possible to have liver cancer without having any known risk factors.
These conditions include the following:
Who Gets Liver Cancer?
The disease is 3 times more common in men than women.
Note that when health authorities are cited, the terms for gender and sex from the source are used.
How Is Liver Cancer Diagnosed?
Diagnosis of liver cancer usually involves a physical examination and one or more special medical tests.
This allows cancer to be detected early.
People at average risk for liver cancer are not screened.
Conditions that elevate risk include cirrhosis, hereditary hemochromatosis, or chronic hepatitis B infection.
Rarely, cancer might be restaged after a period of remission.
Surgery
Surgery is regarded as the best treatment option for liver cancer.
Liver Resection Surgery
This surgery is called a partial hepatectomy or liver resection.
People with liver cirrhosis may not be good candidates for liver surgery.
The liver can regrow to its normal size and function if it is healthy enough.
Minimally Invasive Liver Surgery
Minimally invasive liver surgery is performed with small incisions.
It reduces side effects and recovery time.
The tool is inserted through the small incisions to reach your liver.
Liver Transplant Surgery
Liver transplant surgeryinvolves removing the entire diseased liver and replacing it with a healthy donor liver.
It focuses radiation on cancer from a source outside the body.
Radiation therapy can also relieve discomfort due to an enlarged liver or spleen.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy involves using drugs that destroy tumor cells in different ways.
A combination of two or three drugs can destroy or slow the progression of cancer cells.
Chemotherapy is usually administered orally or by injection.
However, chemotherapy for liver cancer may be administered via hepatic artery infusion.
This technique uses a pump connected to your liver to deliver drugs directly into the liver through yourhepatic artery.
Six immunotherapy drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for liver cancer.
They include the following:
Localized Treatments
Localized treatments are administered directly to the liver cancer cells.
These drugs can destroy cancer cells without harming healthy cells.
Targeted drug therapy is used for liver cancer that has spread to other organs.
It can also treat tumors too large for surgery or those too close to vital blood vessels.
Treatments can cure most cases of hepatitis C in eight to 12 weeks.
The five-year survival rate for liver cancer in the United States is about 17%.
Survival statistics do not represent individual cases.
Discuss your prognosis with your healthcare provider.
These challenges begin with your diagnosis and extend through your treatment and years into your survivorship.
Liver cancer can start in liver cells.
Keeping a healthy liver by avoiding cirrhosis and hepatitis B and C can lessen your risk of liver cancer.
Starting treatment early can help you get the best outcomes.
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