Symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer

• Dr. Paari Vijayaragavan
• 02 March

Typically, liver cancer does not have any symptoms till it is very advanced. Then the symptoms may include:

• Abdominal pain

•  Weight loss

•  Nausea

• Vomiting

• Large mass can be felt in upper, right part of abdomen

• Fever

• Jaundice. Yellowing of the skin and eyes.

• Persistent itching

The symptoms of a liver hepatoma may resemble other medical conditions or problems. Always consult your doctor for a diagnosis.

Liver cancer diagnosis:

In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, the various tests used to diagnose liver cancer are

1. Ultrasonography

2. Computed tomography scan (CT scan). A CT scan clearly shows how advanced the liver cancer is and is important to identify the correct treatment approach for the given tumor.

3. PET scan: Some times this PET scan is done to see if the tumor has spread to the other parts of the body.

4. MRI Scan: can show small tumor that are missed by the CT scan and is sometimes needed.

Treatment for liver hepatoma

Specific treatment for liver hepatoma will be determined based on:

• Patients age and over all health condition,

• Presence and the state of underlying liver disease ( like cirrhosis)

• Extent of the disease

•  Available treatment modalities and facilities and

•  patient and family preferences.

Treatment options include:

• Surgery: If possible, surgical removal is the best chance to cure a patient from liver cancer. But only a small proportion of patients are suitable for surgical removal of the liver cancer.

•  Trans arterial chemoembolisation (TACE): In some cases, if surgery is not an options, the tumors blood supply can be blocked after injecting chemotherapy agents by a procedure called TACE. This procedure is inferior to surgery in results and is not curative.

•  Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy may be used in some cases when surgery is not an options. This may be in form of external beam radiation (SBRT) or injecting radioactive particles inside the tumor (TARE). This procedure is inferior to surgery in results and is not curative.

•  Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is usually the last choice in liver cancers and is given when none of the other options are preferred or possible. Chemotherapy for liver cancers usually use oral tablets.

•   Liver transplantation : In selected cases when there are few small tumors and underlying cirrhosis of liver, liver transplantation can give the best results and can even cure the patients of the cancer.