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Liver Cancer Information
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Liver Cancer
Information
Liver
Cancer
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Liver cancer (also
known as hepatoma) is a malignancy of the liver.
Most cases
of liver cancers are secondary to either
hepatitis
infection (usually hepatitis B or
hepatitis C) or cirrhosis
(alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic
cirrhosis).
Most liver cancer discovered in Western patients
are metastases (spread) from tumors elsewhere. In
the West, HCC
(Liver Cancer) is generally seen as rare cancer,
normally of those with pre-existing liver disease.
It is often detected by ultrasound screening, and so
presents to health-care facilities much earlier than
in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example. Diagnosis,
screening and monitoring.
In the western
world, liver cancer (HCC) most commonly appears in a
patient with chronic viral
hepatitis (hepatitis B or
hepatitis C, 20%) or with cirrhosis (about 80%).
These patients commonly undergo surveillance with
ultrasound due to the cost-effectiveness.
In patients with a
higher suspicion of HCC / Liver Cancer (such as rising
alpha-fetoprotein levels), the best method of
diagnosis involves a CT scan of the abdomen using
intravenous contrast agent and three-phase scanning
(before contrast administration, immediately after
contrast administration, and again after a delay) to
increase the ability of the radiologist to detect
small or subtle tumors. It is important to optimize
the parameters of the CT examination, because
the
underlying liver disease that most HCC / Liver
Cancer patients have
can make the findings more difficult to appreciate.
Liver Cancer
Symptoms
Symptoms of Liver
Cancer are very rarely seen in the early stages.
This is due mainly to the fact that
Liver cancer, by
itself, rarely appears without the signs and
symptoms of the associated disease listed above,
that being hepatitis, cirrhosis, and/or a metastases
from another cancer. So, liver cancer symptoms could
be, but are by no means effective in diagnosis:
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- Swelling and tention below the right ribs
- Jaundice
- Light Colored Stools
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- Distention and Bloating
- Polyuria and polydypsia
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Other even more
vague symptoms of liver cancer include: |
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- Strokes
- Red, itchy eyes
- Irritability, easy to anger
- Hypochondriac pain and mid back tension
- Tight, inflexible tendons and ligaments
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Depression and mood swings
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Diagnosis of
Liver Cancer
On a CAT scan, HCC /
Liver Cancer
can have three distinct patterns of growth:
- A single large tumor
- Multiple tumors
- Poorly defined tumor with an infiltrative
growth pattern
- Both calcifications and intralesional fat may
be appreciated.
In
liver cancer patients who
have a contrast agent
allergy or poor renal
function, an MRI scan of the abdomen is a more
costly but effective substitute.
Once imaged,
diagnosis of liver cancer is confirmed by percutaneous biopsy and
histopathologic analysis. Microscopically,
there are four architectural and cytological types
(patterns) of liver cancer: Fibrolamellar,
pseudoglandular (adenoid), pleomorphic (giant cell)
and clear cell. In well differentiated forms, tumor
cells resemble hepatocytes, form trabeculae, cords
and nests, and may contain bile pigment in
cytoplasm. In poorly differentiated forms, malignant
epithelial cells are discohesive, pleomorphic,
anaplastic, giant. The tumor has a scant stroma and
central necrosis because of the poor vascularization.
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