What is liver cancer?
Liver cancer or hepatic cancer is properly considered to be a cancer which starts in the liver, as opposed to a cancer which originates in another organ and migrates to the liver, known as a liver metastasis. For a thorough understanding of liver cancer it is important to have an understanding of how the liver functions. The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. It is located below the right lung and under the ribcage. The liver is divided into four lobes: the right lobe, the left lobe, the caudate lobe, and the quadrate lobe. Protein is obtained by the liver from the portal vein, which carries nutrient-rich blood from the intestines to the liver. The hepatic artery supplies the liver with blood that is rich in oxygen. Liver cancer thus consists of the presence of malignant hepatic tumors, growths on or in the liver (medical terms pertaining to the liver often start in hepato, or hepatic from the Greek word for liver, hēpar, stem hēpat-). Liver tumors may be discovered on medical imaging, which may occur incidentally to imaging performed for a different disease than the cancer itself, or may present symptomatically, as an abdominal mass, abdominal pain, jaundice, nausea or some other liver dysfunction.
Causes for Liver Cancer:
It’s not clear what causes most cases of liver cancer. But in some cases, the cause is known. For instance, chronic infection with certain hepatitis viruses can cause liver cancer.
Liver cancer occurs when liver cells develop changes (mutations) in their DNA — the material that provides instructions for every chemical process in your body. DNA mutations cause changes in these instructions. One result is that cells may begin to grow out of control and eventually form a tumor — a mass of malignant cells.
Symptoms of Liver Cancer:
Most people don’t have signs and symptoms in the early stages of primary liver cancer. When symptoms do appear, they may include:
- Losing weight without trying
- Loss of appetite
- Upper abdominal pain
- Nausea and vomiting
- General weakness and fatigue
- An enlarged liver
- Abdominal swelling
- Yellow discoloration of your skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)
Types of Liver Cancer:
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma or Hepatoma
- Cholangiocarcinomas or Bile Duct Cancer
Related Types of Liver Cancer
- Angiosarcomas
- Hemangiosarcoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): This is the most common form of liver cancer in adults. It begins in the hepatocytes, the main type of liver cell. About 3 out of 4 cancers that start in the liver are this type. HCC can have different growth patterns.
- Some start as a single tumor that grows larger. Only late in the disease does it spread to other parts of the liver.
- Others seem to start in many spots throughout the liver, not as a single tumor. This is most often seen in people with ongoing liver damage (cirrhosis) and is the most common pattern seen in the United States.
Doctors can figure out the subtypes of hepatocellular cancer by looking at the cancer under a microscope. Most of these subtypes do not affect treatment or the patient’s outlook. But one rare type, called fibrolamellar, has a much better outlook (prognosis) than other forms of liver cancer.
Bile duct cancers (cholangiocarcinomas): Bile duct cancers account for 1 or 2 out of every 10 cases of liver cancer. These cancers start in the small tubes (called bile ducts) that carry bile to the gallbladder. For more information on this type of cancer, please see our document Bile Duct (Cholangiocarcinoma) Cancer.
Cancers that begin in blood vessels in the liver (angiosarcomas and hemangiosarcomas): There are rare cancers that start in the blood vessels of the liver. These tumors grow quickly. Often by the time they are found they are too widespread to be removed. Treatment may help slow the disease, but most patients do not live more than a year after these cancers are found.
Hepatoblastoma: There is a very rare kind of liver cancer that is usually found in children younger than 4 years old. About 70% of children with this disease have good outcomes with surgery and chemotherapy. The survival rate is greater than 90% for early-stage disease.
Treatment for Liver Cancer:
Treatments for primary liver cancer depend on the extent (stage) of the disease as well as your age, overall health and personal preferences.
The goal of any treatment is to eliminate the cancer completely. When that isn’t possible, the focus may be on preventing the tumor from growing or spreading. In some cases only comfort care is appropriate. In this situation, the goal of treatment is not to remove or slow the disease but to help relieve symptoms, making you as comfortable as possible.
Liver cancer treatment options may include:
- Surgery to remove a portion of the liver– Your doctor may recommend partial hepatectomy to remove the liver cancer and a small portion of healthy tissue that surrounds it if your tumor is small and your liver function is good.
- Liver transplant surgery– During liver transplant surgery, your diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy liver from a donor. Liver transplant surgery may be an option for people with early-stage liver cancer who also have cirrhosis.
- Freezing cancer cells– Cryoablation uses extreme cold to destroy cancer cells. During the procedure, your doctor places an instrument (cryoprobe) containing liquid nitrogen directly onto liver tumors. Ultrasound images are used to guide the cryoprobe and monitor the freezing of the cells. Cryoablation can be the only liver cancer treatment, or it can be used along with surgery, chemotherapy or other standard treatments.
- Heating cancer cells– In a procedure called radiofrequency ablation, electric current is used to heat and destroy cancer cells. Using an ultrasound or CT scan as a guide, your surgeon inserts several thin needles into small incisions in your abdomen. When the needles reach the tumor, they’re heated with an electric current, destroying the cancer cells.
- Injecting alcohol into the tumor– During alcohol injection, pure alcohol is injected directly into tumors, either through the skin or during an operation. Alcohol dries out the cells of the tumor and eventually the cells die.
- Injecting chemotherapy drugs into the liver– Chemoembolization is a type of chemotherapy treatment that supplies strong anti-cancer drugs directly to the liver. During the procedure, the hepatic artery — the artery from which liver cancers derive their blood supply — is blocked, and chemotherapy drugs are injected between the blockage and the liver.
- Radiation therapy– This treatment uses high-powered energy beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. During radiation therapy treatment, you lie on a table and a machine directs the energy beams at a precise point on your body. Radiation side effects may include fatigue, nausea and vomiting.
- Radiation therapy– This treatment uses high-powered energy beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. During radiation therapy treatment, you lie on a table and a machine directs the energy beams at a precise point on your body. Radiation side effects may include fatigue, nausea and vomiting.
Diagnosis of Liver Cancer:
To make the diagnosis, a thorough medical history must be taken, followed by a physical examination. Your doctor May then recommend some of the following tests:
- blood tests to check liver enzyme levels
- abdominal ultrasound to check liver size and to look for any tumours or abnormalities
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen
- computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen
- laparoscopy – through a small incision, the doctor inserts a small, thin tube called a laparoscope, which allows viewing of the liver and surrounding organs
- biopsy – using a laparoscope, a small piece of tissue is taken from the liver for microscopic examination
- angiography – a dye is injected into the veins and its progress through the liver is tracked by X-ray
- chest X-rays to see if the cancer has spread
Liver Cancer Prevention:
Doctors cannot always explain why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t. However, scientists have studied general patterns of cancer in the population to learn what things around us and what things we do in our lives may increase our chance of developing cancer.
Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a protective factor. Some of the risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, although you can choose to quit smoking, you cannot choose which genes you have inherited from your parents. Both smoking and inheriting specific genes could be considered risk factors for certain kinds of cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Prevention means avoiding the risk factors and increasing the protective factors that can be controlled so that the chance of developing cancer decreases.
Although many risk factors can be avoided, it is important to keep in mind that avoiding risk factors does not guarantee that you will not get cancer. Also, most people with a particular risk factor for cancer do not actually get the disease. Some people are more sensitive than others are to factors that can cause cancer. Talk to your doctor about methods of preventing cancer that might be effective for you.
Risk factors for Liver Cancer:
A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for several types of cancer.
But risk factors don’t tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does not mean that you will get the disease. And many people who get the disease may not have had any known risk factors.
Factors that increase the risk of primary liver cancer include:
- Your sex– Men are more likely to develop liver cancer than are women.
- Your age– In North America, Europe and Australia, liver cancer most commonly affects older adults. In developing countries of Asia and Africa, liver cancer diagnosis tends to occur at a younger age — between 20 and 50.
- Chronic infection with HBV or HCV– Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases your risk of liver cancer.
- Cirrhosis– This progressive and irreversible condition causes scar tissue to form in your liver and increases your chances of developing liver cancer.
- Certain inherited liver diseases– Liver diseases that can increase the risk of liver cancer include hemochromatosis, autoimmune hepatitis and Wilson’s disease.
- Diabetes– People with this blood sugar disorder have a greater risk of liver cancer than do people who don’t have diabetes.
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease– An accumulation of fat in the liver increases the risk of liver cancer.
- Exposure to aflatoxins– Consuming foods contaminated with fungi that produce aflatoxins greatly increases the risk of liver cancer. Crops such as corn and peanuts can become contaminated with aflatoxins.
- Excessive alcohol consumption– Consuming more than a moderate amount of alcohol can lead to irreversible liver damage and increase your risk of liver cancer.
- Obesity– Having an unhealthy body mass index increases the risk of liver cancer.
What is the Cost of Liver cancer treatment surgery in India?
At the top rated, accredited, specialty hospital and clinical facilities in the cosmopolitan Indian metro cities the cost of liver cancer treatment surgery procedures is approximately 75% cheaper than the cost of these operative procedures in USA, UK, Europe, Canada and Australia. India is considered as the prime destination for patients looking for low cost treatment options.
COUNTRY |
COST |
India |
$ 30,000 |
Singapore |
$ 250,000 |
Germany |
$ 350,000 |
| USA | $ 550,000 |
HealthYatra offers Liver cancer surgery in India at reasonable cost. Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) is a cancer arising from the liver. It is also known as primary liver cancer or hepatoma. The role of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in causing liver cancer is well established. Cirrhosis caused by chronic alcohol consumption is the most common association of liver cancer in the developed world. Patients who are actively drinking are more likely to die from non-cancer related complications of alcoholic liver disease.
Treat your child in India for Childhood liver cancer at world class Hospitals
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Childhood liver cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the liver. The process used to find out if cancer has spread within the liver or to other parts of the body is called staging. The information gathered from the staging process determines the stage of the disease. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment.
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