Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. The modern development of medicine still does not guarantee a full recovery for patients, especially in those cases when the disease is detected at a late stage. Liver cancer is a dangerous disease, given the importance of this organ for the normal functioning of the body. Next, we consider the causes, symptoms and treatment of pathology, as well as the prognosis for patients.
What is oncopathology?
Liver cancer is a malignant neoplasm that develops in the lobes of the liver or its ducts through which bile is excreted.
Cancerous tumors in this organ are characterized by rapid growth and are difficult to cure. According to statistics, the incidence rate among all oncological diseases is 7%.
Types of tumors in an organ
Signs of liver cancer and the choice of treatment tactics will depend on the cause of the tumor. The liver in the body plays the role of a chemical laboratory, which purifies the blood from toxic and harmful substances. That is why, if a malignant tumor appeared in the body in any organ, then the probability of penetration of cancer cells into the liver with a blood stream is high. Depending on the etiology of occurrence, tumor types are distinguished:
- Primary It develops in the liver itself from degenerated hepatocytes. Several varieties are distinguished: hepatoma - from the cells of the liver parenchyma, cholangiocarcinoma - from the cells of the biliary tract, angiosarcoma develops from the blood vessels.
- Secondary malignant tumor. It develops from cancer cells that enter an organ from other parts of the body. Most often these are metastases from the intestines and genitals.
Primary liver cancer is diagnosed much less frequently. The male half of humanity suffers from this pathology much more often. Almost 90% of all tumors in the liver are malignant. In women, this number is only 40%.
The anatomical structure of the tumor
Malignant tumors in the liver can differ in their structure, depending on this they emit:
- Massive cancer. The tumor can reach the size of a human fist and is separated by a capsule from other cells.
- Nodal Several tumors the size of a walnut develop simultaneously in the liver.
- Diffuse. Cancer cells spread throughout the body.
No matter what type of human liver cancer, it is more important to detect it in a timely manner in order to increase the patient's chances of recovery.
Causes of a malignant tumor in the liver
If the cells of this organ are weakened as a result of exposure to various harmful substances, against the background of diseases, then the risk of developing oncopathology increases. Among the causes of liver cancer include:
- The presence of chronic hepatitis of a viral nature. In 80% of cases, patients with cancer show hepatitis B.
- Cirrhosis of the liver. Pathology creates favorable conditions for the development of malignant cells.
- Cholelithiasis. The formation of stones in this organ provokes an inflammatory process, and the cells begin to mutate.
- Syphilis. The causative agent of the pathology penetrates the liver with blood flow and infects the blood vessels and tissues, increasing the risk of cancer.
- Diabetes.
- The presence of parasites in the liver. These include: hepatic fluke, Siberian fluke.
- The presence of bad habits.
- Exposure to the body of toxic substances: pesticides, chlorine, arsenic.
- Toxins secreted by molds. With the use of affected products, the likelihood of developing cancer is increased. This problem is more common in countries with low living standards.
- Predisposition to the development of cancer.
One of the risk factors can also include the use of anabolic steroids, which athletes often sin to accelerate the buildup of strength and muscle mass.
Stages of liver cancer
Any oncological disease proceeds with the change of several stages. There is no exception for a tumor in the liver. The following degrees of liver cancer are distinguished:
- At the first stage, a small tumor forms in the organ, which does not affect the vessels, bile ducts, and lymph nodes. Symptoms at this stage are practically absent. The patient may feel weakness, fatigue, discomfort in the upper abdomen, but these symptoms are attributed to other conditions and diseases.
- The second stage of liver cancer is characterized by a tumor that begins to grow into the vessels. There may be several, but small, neoplasms. Pathology begins to manifest itself as nausea, aching pain, upset stool. On examination, the liver is enlarged and hard.
- The third stage has several stages:
- IIIA. There are several tumors in the liver, but one is more than 5 cm. The neoplasm does not affect the lymph nodes and neighboring organs.
- IIIB. The tumor affects the veins of the liver, but the lymph nodes are not affected.
- IIIC. At this stage of cancer, liver metastases spread to neighboring organs. The tumor can also grow into a capsule that surrounds the liver from the outside.
The third degree of pathology does not pass unnoticed, the patient loses weight, swelling appears, the temperature rises.
4. The fourth stage also has sub-stages:
- IVA A large number of neoplasms are found in the liver. They affect blood vessels, lymph nodes. Cancer of the liver of 4 degrees with metastases in adjacent tissues.
- IVB. The neoplasm affects not only neighboring tissues, but also distant organs. The patient's condition worsens sharply.
The treatment of liver cancer is selected according to the stage of the disease.
Cancer metastases
In almost 90% of cases, liver cancer develops against the background of the penetration of metastases from other foci of cancer in the body. The primary tumor can also give metastases in liver cancer, which most often penetrate the lungs, kidneys, pancreas, and bones.
With the spread of malignant cells throughout the body, the prognosis worsens, as does the condition of the patient.
Symptoms of cancer in the liver
Malignant tumors practically do not manifest themselves at the first stage of development, when treatment gives a high probability of complete recovery. Signs of liver cancer can be divided into specific and non-specific. The second category includes symptoms of intoxication of the body, a deterioration in overall health, weight loss.
Specific ones include: jaundice, internal bleeding, which is most often manifested in stage 4 liver cancer.
Given that the liver is directly involved in the digestion and neutralization of toxic substances, the first symptoms indicate their violation. The patient feels:
- Loss of appetite.
- Intermittent nausea.
- Upset stool.
- Pain that radiates to the shoulder blade and back.
- The skin and sclera of the eyes become icteric.
- Under the ribs felt condensation.
Since the immune system is trying to fight cancer cells, an increase in temperature is often noted. Cushing's syndrome is another symptom of liver cancer in women and men. This is a manifestation of endocrine disorders, which in advanced stages lead to the development of steroid diabetes.
Late cancer symptoms
At the last stage of development, when cancer cells spread throughout the body beyond the liver, there are manifestations that indicate a malfunction of not only this organ, but all systems.
Signs of grade 4 liver cancer include:
- Constant and intense pain.
- Dramatic weight loss.
- Depletion of the body, which is accompanied by anemia.
- The patient constantly feels tired and tired.
- Dizziness that often ends in fainting.
- Due to impaired circulation, swelling on the legs appears. In severe cases, the patient because of them even loses the ability to move.
- Ascites develops - accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity.
- A growing tumor affects the vessels, which ends with their rupture and internal bleeding.
- Lymph nodes increase.
- Dark spots appear on the skin.
The listed manifestations can signal other pathologies, but with a combination of several, liver cancer should be suspected.
Malignant formation in the liver in children
Oncology of this organ is diagnosed in children in the same way as in adults. There is a pathology due to improper cell division, which is provoked by running hepatitis or the inflammatory process against the background of an infectious disease.
Children are at risk:
- Having cirrhosis of the liver.
- With drug hepatitis.
- With a diagnosis of heart failure.
- If gallstones are found.
- Contact with chemicals.
In children, liver cancer in the first stages also proceeds without specific symptoms, you can observe:
- Stomach enlargement.
- Upset stool.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- The child gets tired quickly.
- Loses weight.
- Sometimes there is a slight increase in temperature.
When these signs appear, you should not delay the visit to the doctor, they do not always indicate oncopathology, but it is better to play it safe.
Gradually, the tumor grows and the symptoms change:
- The mucous membranes and skin turn yellow.
- Urine becomes dark and feces light.
- Internal bleeding in the intestines begins.
There is a chance of recovery if a tumor is detected in the first stages of development.
Cancer diagnosis
To make a diagnosis when unpleasant symptoms appear, you need to visit a specialist. The doctor puts him on the basis of the following studies:
- Conversation with the patient about complaints and the time of their appearance.
- Palpation of the liver is carried out to detect characteristic changes.
- Laboratory tests show increased bilirubin in the blood, and urobilin in the urine.
- Alpha fetoprotein is measured in the blood composition. This substance is produced by unripe liver cells in the period of fetal development. When oncopathology develops, the cells lose their ability to normal maturation and ACE increases significantly.
- Ultrasound examination allows you to study the structure of the liver and detect a tumor.
- Computed tomography allows you to detect a small tumor due to the fact that thin sections of liver tissue are visible in the image, you can carefully examine the structure, revealing the smallest neoplasms.
- MRI Allows you to study a pathological site from different angles.
- Biopsy. Under the control of ultrasound, a small piece of the neoplasm is taken with a long needle to be examined under a microscope.
After the examination, the doctor determines the stage of cancer, the variety and prescribes treatment.
Oncopathology Therapy
Modern methods of treatment will help increase life expectancy with a diagnosis of liver cancer. These include:
- Ablation. This is the destruction of the neoplasm without surgical intervention. To do this, ethanol is introduced into the tumor, which destroys cancer cells. For this purpose, cryodestruction, microwave radiation, and radio waves can be used. The technique is suitable for fighting tumors not exceeding 3 centimeters in diameter.
- Embolization of blood vessels. By introducing special substances into the vessels of the liver, they block the access of blood to cancer cells, which helps to stop their growth. The method helps if the size of the formations is not more than 5 cm.
- Radiation therapy. With the help of X-ray radiation, the size of the tumor decreases, the intensity of pain decreases, and life expectancy increases.
- Chemotherapy. It is carried out using modern chemotherapy drugs that have a detrimental effect on cancer cells. Apply: Sorafenib and Nexavar. Drugs that are used in other types of oncology are not effective in the treatment of liver cancer.
If there is a possibility and a tumor is detected in the early stages, then the most effective is surgery. It is carried out using several methods:
- Resection or removal of the affected area. An operation is used for small tumors that do not affect the vessels and lymph nodes.
- Liver transplantation. Effective in the first stages, until the cancer cells have spread throughout the body. It gives a chance for a full recovery, but the problem is to find a donor.
A combination of several therapies is often used to increase the effectiveness of treatment.
Treatment with folk remedies
The effectiveness of the use of alternative recipes in the treatment of cancer has already been proven. When a tumor appears in the liver, the following agents are considered the most effective:
- Propolis. Every day, one hour before a meal three times a day, take 5 grams of fresh propolis. The duration of treatment is at least 2-3 months. But this method is effective for small tumors.
- Oat broth. 1.5 cups of oats should be combined with 2 liters of cold water and boiled for 20 minutes. After cooling, take an hour before meals three times a day, dividing the amount obtained into three doses. Every day, brew a new one.
- Hemlock tincture. Fill a 3-liter jar with hemlock shoots for the third part. Add half a liter of vodka and mix. After a couple of minutes add to the brim, close and leave in a cool place for 2 weeks. The course of treatment should begin with 1 drop, which should be taken in the morning before eating. Daily increase the dose by 1 drop and so go to 40. Then reduce by 1 drop. After such a course, take a break for two weeks and repeat again. In the presence of liver cancer, patient reviews say that it is enough to conduct 3-5 courses to cure oncopathology.
- Celandine. Grind celandine root and squeeze the juice. Take half the liter of the same amount of vodka and infuse for 20 days. Take the medicine in a teaspoon 4 times a day 30 minutes before meals. Duration of admission is 2 weeks.
- Chaga infusion. Grind 100 grams of birch chaga and pour a liter of cold, but boiled water. Two days to insist and strain. Take half an hour before meals three times a day in a glass. The duration of treatment is at least a month.
When using folk recipes, it is important to remember that such therapy does not replace the main course. It can be an excellent addition to conservative methods of therapy, as a preventive measure to prevent relapse.
Changing the diet for cancer
Nutrition is no less important in the treatment of cancer. Dishes should be light and support the body's strength in the fight against the disease, as well as contribute to the elimination of toxins and the passage of bile.
The following recommendations should be followed:
- Eat small meals, but 4-5 times a day.
- You can’t tolerate hunger.
- All dishes should be easily digested and stimulate the digestion process, so it is better to start each meal with raw vegetable salads, and then move on to the main meal.
- Increase the amount of plant foods in the diet.
- Add germinated cereals to your diet as a source of important trace elements.
- Take carrot juice daily, it perfectly cleanses the liver.
- Exclude sugar, starch and flour from the diet.
- It is desirable to eat coarse bread.
- Of the cereals, give preference to buckwheat and oatmeal.
- Cook vegetable soups every day.
- Limit the consumption of butter and refined vegetable. It is better to replace them with olive, linen.
- Every day on the table should be dairy products: milk, cottage cheese, kefir, fermented baked milk.
- In small quantities it is allowed to eat sauerkraut.
- 2-3 eggs in the form of an omelet are allowed per week.
- From confectionery pastille, marmalade is allowed.
- You can drink herbal tea, green, compotes, fruit drinks.
Some products will have to be abandoned:
- Fat meat.
- Alcoholic drinks.
- Seasonings, especially sharp.
- Carbonated drinks.
- Products with food additives.
- Marinades.
- Coffee.
- Chocolate and cakes.
An integrated approach to treatment gives a good chance to the patient, but provided that the treatment is started at the first stages of cancer development.
Prognosis for patients
How many live with liver cancer? The answer to this question depends on many factors. If earlier this pathology was considered almost incurable, now much has changed. If a tumor is detected in the first stages, then the operation allows the patient to give a chance of recovery.
The liver is capable of regeneration, so even removing a large part of it is not fatal, the organ will gradually recover and will be able to perform its functions.
After surgery for the removal of liver cancer, the prognosis for survival for 40% of patients is about five years. If the neoplasm is removed at the 1-2 stage, then the percentage rises to 70. Many patients continue to lead a familiar lifestyle after surgical removal of the tumor.
If the disease has gone too far and the body has metastases, then there is no point in operating the patient.With the help of other methods of treatment, the vital activity of the body is supported. Life expectancy is about six months.
The prognosis at the 3rd stage is unfavorable. Only 5-6% of patients can live about five years, and when cancer of the 4th degree is reached, this indicator is only 2%.
If we talk about cancer in children, then, given the capabilities of a growing organism and the use of the latest treatment methods, remission can be achieved at almost all stages except the fourth.
The body's capabilities are different for everyone, therefore it is impossible to give the same forecast for patients with one stage of cancer development.
Cancer Prevention
Protecting yourself from cancer is 100% impossible, but you can take some measures to reduce the risk of its development. These include:
- Avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. The harm of ultraviolet radiation to the body has already been scientifically proven. But this does not mean that you have to sit at home all day and go out at night. Just sunbathing should be dosed.
- If possible, be less in areas with adverse environmental conditions. Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to change their place of residence, but this fact must be borne in mind.
- Drink purified water.
- Be sure to undergo treatment if hepatitis B, C is detected.
- Eat a healthy diet that contains all the important trace elements and vitamins. Do not go to extremes, but a measure in nutrition will not hurt.
- Prevent stagnation in the liver of bile.
- Eradicate bad habits that often provoke cirrhosis of the liver, and from it literally one step to cancer.
- If parasites are found in the body, be sure to take a course of treatment.
- In the presence of a hereditary predisposition, you should be more attentive to your health several times.
Cancer is an unpleasant diagnosis, often patients give up, fall into depression. But you must always remember that often the outcome of treatment depends on our serious attitude to our health.