Liver Cancer.

What causes liver cancer

Scientists have found several risk factors that make a person more likely to develop liver cancer.

Gender: Men are more likely to get liver cancer than women. This could be because of the behaviours listed below such as smoking and alcohol abuse.

Certain types of liver disease: Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a very important liver cancer risk. These infections, which are common in many parts of the world, make liver cancer the most common cancer in these areas. There are also some inherited liver diseases that increase the risk of liver cancer.

Cirrhosis: Cirrhosis is the result of scar tissue in the liver. This can often lead to cancer. In Australia, the major causes of liver cirrhosis are alcohol abuse and hepatitis B and C. Another cause is too much iron in the liver.

Tobacco use: There is a link between smoking and liver cancer. The risk may be even greater for people who also abuse alcohol.

Aflatoxins: These cancer-causing substances are made by a fungus that can contaminate peanuts, wheat, soybeans, groundnuts, corn, and rice. Long-term exposure can increase the risk of liver cancer.

Vinyl chloride and thorium dioxide (Thorotrast): These chemicals are risk factors for several types of liver cancer. They have become much less important since Thorotrast is no longer used and exposure to vinyl chloride is strictly controlled.

Anabolic steroids: These are male hormones that are used by some athletes to increase their strength. Long-term use of these can slightly increase the risk of liver cancer.

Signs/Symptoms

In the first stages of liver cancer you rarely have symptoms. Only when the cancer develops into bigger size you get the symptoms for liver cancer. Some of the symptoms are pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, fever, yellowing of the skin and eyes, nausea, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, swelling of the abdomen, breast swelling in males, blood clotting problems leading to intestinal bleeding and bruises on the skin.

Treatment

The treatment for liver cancer will depend according to the individual. Some of the treatments are surgery, transplantation, chemotherapy and radiation. The liver transplantation means the replacement of one liver with another. Chemotherapy is a drug that kills cancer cells. Surgery is not really an option because it could cause cancer cells to spread to other organs of the body. Radiation therapy is x-rays or other high-energy to kill the cancer cells and they shrink them if the cancer cells are too big. Also the treatment will depend on whether it is primary or secondary stages. If you are diagnosed in the later stages (secondary) of liver cancer, the cancer might have spread to a point of the body where it is no longer a possibility of being cured.

Incidence of Liver Cancer in Australia

(per 100,000)