Liver Cancer (original) (raw)

Also called: Hepatocellular carcinoma

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• Summary
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• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

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Summary

Your liver is the largest organ inside your body. It helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. Primary liver cancer starts in the liver. Metastatic liver cancer starts somewhere else and spreads to your liver.

Risk factors for primary liver cancer include :

• Having hepatitis B or C
• Heavy alcohol use
• Having cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver
• Having hemochromatosis, an iron storage disease
• Obesity and diabetes

Symptoms can include a lump or pain on the right side of your abdomen and yellowing of the skin. However, you may not have symptoms until the cancer is advanced. This makes it harder to treat. Doctors use tests that examine the liver and the blood to diagnose liver cancer. Treatment options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or liver transplantation.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Start Here

• What Is Liver Cancer? (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

• What Is Liver Cancer? (American Cancer Society) Also in Spanish

• Liver Cancer Stages (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

• Dictionary of Cancer Terms (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

• Abdominal tap (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

• After chemotherapy - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

• Liver cancer - hepatocellular carcinoma (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

• Liver metastases (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish