It removes harmful material from the blood, produces enzymes and bile that help digest food and converts food into substances needed for life and growth.
How can cancer involve the liver?
The cancer can arise from the liver itself (primary liver cancer) or it can spread to the liver from a primary tumour at another site (secondary, or metastatic, cancer). In the UK, secondary liver cancer is about 28 times more common than primary liver cancer. Each year there are about 70,000 patients in the UK with secondary liver cancer and about 2,500 with primary liver cancer.
Liver cancer can arise in two ways:
• Primary liver cancer (most commonly hepatocellular carcinoma) originates in the liver.
• Metastatic liver cancer results from the spread (metastasis) of cancer from other areas of the body.
What is primary liver cancer?
Primary liver cancer starts in the cells, bile ducts, blood vessels or connective tissue of the liver. Primary liver cancer is different from cancer that started somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver (called secondary liver cancer or metastatic liver cancer).
The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. The liver has two parts, called lobes – the right lobe and the smaller left lobe.
Causes
Your liver is a football-sized organ that sits in the upper right portion of your abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach. Your liver processes most of the nutrients absorbed from your small intestine and determines how much sugar (glucose), protein and fat enter your bloodstream. It also manufactures blood-clotting substances and certain proteins. Your liver performs a vital detoxifying function by removing drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances from your bloodstream.
What are the main treatments for liver cancer? Surgery for primary liver cancer. Surgery for liver cancer is the best treatment we have if the cancer hasn't spread.
There are two main options
• A liver transplant
• Surgery to remove the cancer from your liver
Liver transplant
Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is more likely to develop in people with chronic cirrhosis. Your specialist may suggest a liver transplant if you have cirrhosis of the liver because of previous liver disease, infection with a hepatitis virus or from drinking alcohol.
Other Treatments
Your specialist may suggest one of the following treatments to help control liver cancer
• Percutaneous ethanol injection
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Chemoembolisation
• Cryosurgery or cryotherapy
New Treatment Targets Liver Cancer
In the interventional radiology suite, physicians use Selective Internal Radiation Therapy to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer. Physicians at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center are performing a new treatment for inoperable liver cancer known as Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). SIRT is a non-surgical outpatient therapy that uses microscopic radioactive spheres, called SIR-Spheres®, to deliver radiation directly to the site of the liver tumors.
Liver Cancer - Diagnosis, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prognosis
Liver cancer also known as primary or metastatic hepatic carcinoma is a fairly rare form of cancer in the western world (1% of all cancers) but much more common in Africa and parts of Asia (10% to 50% of all cancers). Liver cancer is rapidly fatal, usually within 6 months from gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatic failure or metastasis.
TYPES OF LIVE CANCER
Most primary liver tumors are known as hepatomas (hepatocellular carcinoma and primary lower cell carcinoma). Some primary liver cancers originate in the bile duct and these are known as cholangiomas. Some rare liver cancers include Kupffer cell sarcoma and hepatoblastomas (which occur almost exclusively in children and are usually respectable and curable). Metastatic liver cancer is 20 times more common than primary liver cancer and after cirrhosis this is the leading form of liver related death.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Liver cancer does not normally cause symptoms until it is in an advanced stage.
Clinical effects of advanced liver cancers include:
1. A mass in the right upper side.
2. Tender, nodular liver on palpation
3. Severe pain in the epigastrium or upper right side
4. Weight loss, anorexia, weakness, fever
5. Occasional jaundice or ascites (fluid in the abdomen)
CAUSE OF LIVER CANCER
The exact cause of liver cancer is unknown in adults but in children it may be a genetic disease. Adult liver carcinomas may result from environmental exposure to carcinogens such as mold, contrast media (no longer in use), androgens and oral estrogens, the hepatitis B virus or by damage to the liver due to cirrhosis caused by too much prolonged imbibing of alcohol.
DIAGNOSIS
Liver cancer is difficult to diagnose in the presence of cirrhosis, but several tests can help identify it: The combination of an imaging study (ultrasound, CT, or MRI scans) and an elevated blood level of alpha-fetoprotein will most effectively diagnose liver cancer, electrolyte studies may indicate increased sodium retention, a liver biopsy can make a definitive diagnosis.
TREATMENT
Treatments for primary liver cancer depend on the extent (stage) of the disease, age, overall health, feelings and personal preferences. Radiofrequency ablation is an option for people with small, unresectable hepatocellular tumors and for some types of metastatic liver cancers. During this procedure, the hepatic artery (the artery from which liver cancers derive their blood supply) is blocked, and chemotherapy drugs are injected between the blockage and the liver. Cryoablation may be an option for people with inoperable primary and metastatic liver cancers. Removing the whole liver and replacing it with a liver from another person is another possible form of treatment for primary liver cancer.
Even when treatments fail to provide much improvement in the liver cancer itself, pain and other signs and symptoms caused by liver cancer can be aggressively treated to improve quality of life.
PROGNOSIS
Prognosis is poor when cancer is advanced, but for small tumors that are confined to the liver, ablative therapies are palliative and surgical resection or liver transplantation
How can cancer involve the liver?
The cancer can arise from the liver itself (primary liver cancer) or it can spread to the liver from a primary tumour at another site (secondary, or metastatic, cancer). In the UK, secondary liver cancer is about 28 times more common than primary liver cancer. Each year there are about 70,000 patients in the UK with secondary liver cancer and about 2,500 with primary liver cancer.
Liver cancer can arise in two ways:
• Primary liver cancer (most commonly hepatocellular carcinoma) originates in the liver.
• Metastatic liver cancer results from the spread (metastasis) of cancer from other areas of the body.
What is primary liver cancer?
Primary liver cancer starts in the cells, bile ducts, blood vessels or connective tissue of the liver. Primary liver cancer is different from cancer that started somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver (called secondary liver cancer or metastatic liver cancer).
The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. The liver has two parts, called lobes – the right lobe and the smaller left lobe.
Causes
Your liver is a football-sized organ that sits in the upper right portion of your abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach. Your liver processes most of the nutrients absorbed from your small intestine and determines how much sugar (glucose), protein and fat enter your bloodstream. It also manufactures blood-clotting substances and certain proteins. Your liver performs a vital detoxifying function by removing drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances from your bloodstream.
What are the main treatments for liver cancer? Surgery for primary liver cancer. Surgery for liver cancer is the best treatment we have if the cancer hasn't spread.
There are two main options
• A liver transplant
• Surgery to remove the cancer from your liver
Liver transplant
Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is more likely to develop in people with chronic cirrhosis. Your specialist may suggest a liver transplant if you have cirrhosis of the liver because of previous liver disease, infection with a hepatitis virus or from drinking alcohol.
Other Treatments
Your specialist may suggest one of the following treatments to help control liver cancer
• Percutaneous ethanol injection
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Chemoembolisation
• Cryosurgery or cryotherapy
New Treatment Targets Liver Cancer
In the interventional radiology suite, physicians use Selective Internal Radiation Therapy to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer. Physicians at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center are performing a new treatment for inoperable liver cancer known as Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). SIRT is a non-surgical outpatient therapy that uses microscopic radioactive spheres, called SIR-Spheres®, to deliver radiation directly to the site of the liver tumors.
Liver Cancer - Diagnosis, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prognosis
Liver cancer also known as primary or metastatic hepatic carcinoma is a fairly rare form of cancer in the western world (1% of all cancers) but much more common in Africa and parts of Asia (10% to 50% of all cancers). Liver cancer is rapidly fatal, usually within 6 months from gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatic failure or metastasis.
TYPES OF LIVE CANCER
Most primary liver tumors are known as hepatomas (hepatocellular carcinoma and primary lower cell carcinoma). Some primary liver cancers originate in the bile duct and these are known as cholangiomas. Some rare liver cancers include Kupffer cell sarcoma and hepatoblastomas (which occur almost exclusively in children and are usually respectable and curable). Metastatic liver cancer is 20 times more common than primary liver cancer and after cirrhosis this is the leading form of liver related death.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Liver cancer does not normally cause symptoms until it is in an advanced stage.
Clinical effects of advanced liver cancers include:
1. A mass in the right upper side.
2. Tender, nodular liver on palpation
3. Severe pain in the epigastrium or upper right side
4. Weight loss, anorexia, weakness, fever
5. Occasional jaundice or ascites (fluid in the abdomen)
CAUSE OF LIVER CANCER
The exact cause of liver cancer is unknown in adults but in children it may be a genetic disease. Adult liver carcinomas may result from environmental exposure to carcinogens such as mold, contrast media (no longer in use), androgens and oral estrogens, the hepatitis B virus or by damage to the liver due to cirrhosis caused by too much prolonged imbibing of alcohol.
DIAGNOSIS
Liver cancer is difficult to diagnose in the presence of cirrhosis, but several tests can help identify it: The combination of an imaging study (ultrasound, CT, or MRI scans) and an elevated blood level of alpha-fetoprotein will most effectively diagnose liver cancer, electrolyte studies may indicate increased sodium retention, a liver biopsy can make a definitive diagnosis.
TREATMENT
Treatments for primary liver cancer depend on the extent (stage) of the disease, age, overall health, feelings and personal preferences. Radiofrequency ablation is an option for people with small, unresectable hepatocellular tumors and for some types of metastatic liver cancers. During this procedure, the hepatic artery (the artery from which liver cancers derive their blood supply) is blocked, and chemotherapy drugs are injected between the blockage and the liver. Cryoablation may be an option for people with inoperable primary and metastatic liver cancers. Removing the whole liver and replacing it with a liver from another person is another possible form of treatment for primary liver cancer.
Even when treatments fail to provide much improvement in the liver cancer itself, pain and other signs and symptoms caused by liver cancer can be aggressively treated to improve quality of life.
PROGNOSIS
Prognosis is poor when cancer is advanced, but for small tumors that are confined to the liver, ablative therapies are palliative and surgical resection or liver transplantation
December 7, 2009 at 11:39 PM
Thanks for the information. Liver cancer could be either primary or secondary cancer. People who are more prone to have hepatitis B or C, viral infection affecting the liver, are more likely to have primary liver cancer. Secondary cancer is found in either breasts, pancreas or stomach and then metastasizes to the liver.Different x-rays and blood tests help in diagnosing liver cancer. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are commonly used for treating liver cancer. For more details refer what causes cancer