Liver Cancer

liver cancer

LIVER CANCER

Cancers that occur and affect the liver are known as liver cancer. As we all know, liver is an important organ of the body and performs important functions in the body. Liver supports to circulate the blood across the body which converts the nutrients and drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into ready to use chemicals. The other functions performed by the liver are toxin removal and other chemical waste products from the blood which gets prepared for excretion. Since the blood in the body must pass through this organ, the accessibility of the cancer cells that pass through the liver is high.

The cancer cells in the liver change and start to grow in an abnormal way. As the cancer cells start to grow, it forms a group of cells together known as tumour. This tumour can result in severe pain and jaundice and is also considered as primary liver cancer since the cancer cells start growing directly at the liver region. If the cancer cells start and grow in the other regions spreading it to the liver, it is known as secondary liver cancer.

Diagnosis for Liver Cancer:

To identify and diagnose cancer, various steps and methods are followed by the doctors;

The doctor would initially perform a physical examination of the patient to analyse the abnormalities in the lips and mouth such as sores or white patches.

  • Various kinds of scans which show the exact location and the severity of the cancer are performed such as, CT Scan or MRI and Ultrasonogram.
  • A biopsy is done on the liver which helps to examine and understand about the abnormal cells and which helps to confirm the type of cancer.
  • Various blood tests are done to assess the general condition of the health
  • At times a laparoscopy is performed to look at the liver and also take a sample of the liver tissue

Symptoms for Liver Cancer:

Many people do not notice any kinds of signs and symptoms during the initial stages of primary liver cancer. But the following are the different symptoms that happen;

  • Loss of weight
  • Loss of appetite
  • Nausea
  • Weakness across the body
  • Jaundice
  • Abdominal pain in the upper part

Treatment Methods and Options:

Surgery – Surgery is possible if the cancer is small and has not spread to the other parts of the liver and the rest of the liver remains healthy. In such instances, it is possible to cut the liver that is affected and remove the damaged portion. The surgery is not possible if the liver is damaged with cirrhosis. However, the healthy tissues of the liver will re-grow to full size in a couple of weeks. Liver transplant is also an option that can be looked at but only if the cancer has not spread to the other parts.

Chemotherapy – This is a treatment which uses medications to kill cancer cells or stop them from multiplying further. This is not a curative method but it supports to reduce the size of tumour which slows down the spreading of the disease.

Radiation therapy – This method of treatment uses high levels energy beams of radiation which are focused on the cancer cells. This treatment either kills the cancer cells or stops the cells from multiplying further. The radiation only affects the cancer cells and does not affect the normal cells around it.