Liver Cancer

Liver cancer or hepatic cancer is a cancer that originates in the liver. Liver cancers are malignant tumors that grow on the surface or inside the liver. Liver tumors are discovered on medical imaging equipment or present themselves symptomatically as an abdominal mass, abdominal pain, jaundice, nausea or liver dysfunction. Liver cancers should not be confused with liver metastases, which are cancers that originate from organs elsewhere in the body and migrate to the liver.

There are many forms of liver cancer, although many cancers found in the liver are metastasis from other tumors, frequently of the GI tract (like colon cancer, carcinoid tumors mainly of the appendix, etc.), but also from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer, etc.

The most frequent liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This tumor also has a variant type that consists of both HCC and cholangiocarcinoma components. The cells of the bile duct coexist next to the bile ducts that drain the bile produced by the hepatocytes of the liver. Cancers which arise from the blood vessel cells in the liver are known has hemangioendotheliomas.

• Hepatitis C is the primary cause of liver cancer.
• A 2009 study suggested that l-carnitine deficiency is a risk factor for liver cancer, and that supplementation with it could reduce the risk.
• Chronic Hepatitis B infection can lead to liver cancer.

Since hepatitis B or C is one of the main causes of liver cancer, prevention of this infection is key to then prevent liver cancer. Thus, childhood vaccination against hepatitis B may reduce the risk of liver cancer in the future. In the case of patients with cirrhosis, alcohol consumption is to be avoided.

article source: wikipedia