he storage of glycogen, production of hormones, plasma proteins, RBC decomposition, detoxification and production of bile that helps in digestion.
Liver Cancer
There are mainly two types of Liver cancer:
- Primary Liver Cancer: Cancer that originates in the liver cells itself is called Primary liver cancer.
There are two types of primary liver cancer:
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) – HCC is the most common type of liver cancer and starts from the main cells of the liver. People affected with cirrhosis are most prone to have HCC.
Other types of Primary liver cancer are Cholangiocarcinoma, cancer that starts in the cells lining the bile duct and Angiosarcoma, which is a rare liver cancer starting in the blood vessels.
- Secondary Liver Cancer: It is the cancer that has originated in the other parts of the body but has spread to liver (known as metastasis)
Symptoms of Liver Cancer
Initially, liver cancer does not produce any signs and symptoms but when they appear, it includes weight loss, loss of appetite, pain in upper abdomen, generalized weakness and fatigue, nausea, vomiting, yellow discolouration of skin and eyes, abdominal swelling etc.
Once the liver cancer is diagnosed, it is important to know the stage of the cancer to plan appropriate treatment to get out of it in time. There are 4 stages of the liver cancer.
Stage I: Single cancer tumour confined to liver and has not spread to other parts.
Stage II: Cancer with either single tumour that has spread to blood vessels or multiple tumours of less than 5 cm that has not invade blood vessels.
Stage III: It has 3 sub stages:
- Stage III A: cancer with more than single tumour having size of more than 5 cm but has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts
- Stage III B: Cancer has spread to either hepatic or portal vein but has not invaded lymph nodes or any other parts.
- Stage III C: Cancer has spread to adjacent organs like gall bladder but has not spread to lymph nodes.
Stage IV: 2 sub stages:
- Stage IV A: Cancer with more than one tumour of variable size that has spread to blood vessels, lymph nodes and adjacent organs of the liver but has not affected other body parts.
- Stage IV B: Cancer of variable size which has spread to blood vessels and organs nearby the liver. It may or may not have invaded the lymph nodes but has spread to other organs like lungs and bones.
Causes
Cancer occurs when DNA of the cells undergo mutation and these mutated cells then grow without control in abnormal way giving rise to the tumour.
The exact cause of the liver cancer is unknown but like other cancers there are certain risk factors that may lead to cause liver cancer. These are;
- Chronic infection caused by HBV or HCV virus
- Liver cirrhosis
- Inherited liver disease like Wilson's disease and hemochromatosis
- Diabetes
- Overweight and obesity
- Excessive consumption of alcohol
- Fatty liver disease