Liver Cancer
Key points
- Liver cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the liver.
- Symptoms usually do not appear until the disease is advanced.
- Liver cancer most often is diagnosed in later stages of the disease because symptoms do not appear until then.
- The type of treatment you will have depends on a number of factors.
What Is It?
Liver cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the liver. The liver is an important organ that has a number of important jobs. The liver:
- Produces elements that help the blood to clot
- Removes or neutralizes poisons, drugs and alcohol
- Manufactures bile that helps the body to absorb fats and cholesterol
- Helps to maintain normal blood sugar levels
- Regulates several hormones
Cancer in the liver either starts in the liver (primary liver cancer) or spreads to the liver from other places in the body (secondary liver cancer). Primary liver cancer is the most common solid tumor worldwide, with more than one million cases diagnosed each year. However, it is relatively rare in the United States and Europe.
In the United States, most liver tumors have spread (metastasized) to the liver from other organs, most commonly the colon, rectum, lung, breast, pancreas and stomach. When a cancer has spread from somewhere else, the cancer cells are the same in both places. For example, if lung cancer spreads to the liver, the cancerous cells in the liver are the same as the cancerous cells in the lung. For that reason, the person is treated for lung cancer, not liver cancer. Doctors would call the cancer in the liver "metastatic lung cancer." The liver is the most common place for cancer to spread.
Only primary liver cancer is treated as liver cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 18,920 people will be diagnosed with primary liver cancer in 2004, most of them over the age of 40, and 14,270 will die of the disease. In the United States, liver cancer is about twice as common in men as in women.
There are four main types of primary liver cancer:
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma or HCC) — This cancer accounts for about 84 percent of primary liver cancers in the United States. It behaves aggressively.
- Cholangiocarcinoma (bile-duct cancer) — This cancer accounts for about 13 percent of primary liver cancer in the United States. Several conditions increase the risk of developing this cancer. They include gallstones, gallbladder inflammation and sometimes chronic ulcerative colitis (a chronic inflammation of the large bowel).
- Angiosarcoma (hemangiosarcoma) — This is a very rare form of liver cancer.
- Hepatoblastoma — This is a rare type of liver cancer usually found in children younger than age 4.
Risk FactorsFactors that increase your risk of developing primary liver cancer include:
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
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