Liver Cancer Symptoms Early

There must be no symptoms in early stages of the disease. As the cancer grows, the early symptoms develop rather vague and not specifically. You should then think of you generally do not feel good, nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue. Many people who develop primary liver cancer already have complaints related to cirrhosis. If you already have cirrhosis and your health is getting worse soon, the cause can be a rapidly developing liver cancer.

As the cancer develops, more specific symptoms can develop, such as:

• Abdominal pain in the liver region.
• Icterus (jaundice). Yell is when you become 'yellow'. You usually notice the first time when the white of your eyes turns yellow. It is because of the build-up of bilirubin that is made in the liver. Geopathy develops when the bile ducts become blocked by the cancer. Gal and bilirubin cannot be removed from the liver and leaked into the bloodstream.
• Itching (caused by jaundice).
• Swelling of the stomach. This may be because of:

1. Growing cancer itself, and/or
2. Ascites. This is moisture that accumulates in the abdomen. Ascites is a symptom of various liver abnormalities and also of liver cancer.

Liver cancer can be divided into primary liver cancer and secondary liver cancer:

• Primary liver cancer means that the cancer has begun (its origin) in the liver. It occurs especially in people over 60 years, more often than men. In worldwide it is one of the most common cancers.
• Secondary liver cancer means that a cancer that started in another part of the body has spread to the liver (metastases). Many types of cancer can sow into the liver. Usually, it concerns the intestinal, pancreas, stomach, lungs or chest. The behavior, treatment, and prognosis of secondary liver cancer is usually quite different from that of primary liver cancer.

The rest of this leaflet is about primary liver cancer. More specifically, it is about hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma or hepatocellular cancer), the most common type of primary liver cancer.



There are several types of primary liver cancer, namely :

• Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is the most common type (about 90% of cases). It is sometimes called hepatoma. This cancer begins in a liver cell (hepatocyte) that becomes malignant. (The majority of the liver is composed of hepatocytes). An HCC usually develops as a complication of liver diseases such as cirrhosis (liver scars) or forms of hepatitis (liver inflammation).
• Fibrolamellar hepatoma is a rare subtype of HCC. It typically develops in a liver that is healthy for it.
• Cholangiocarcinoma. This is unusual. It develops from cells in the biliary tract.
• Hepatoblastoma. This is a very rare cancer that sometimes occurs in young children.
• Angiosarcoma. This form is also very rare. It develops from cells in the blood vessels of the liver.

*Image source : ALOT Health

References :

1. National Cancer Institute
2. Patient1
3. American Cancer Society