HCC, which in full is called Hepatocellular carcinoma, is perhaps the most rampant type of cancer, and its impacts are innumerable. Cancer poses the highest health risk due to its aggressive nature and is classified as unfavorable in almost every part of the globe. Besides, more than 8,00,000 people die from this cancer form every year. Remarkably, liver cancer is on the rise among patients who drink alcohol, possess abundant fatty liver, and have been infected with several types of viruses for a long time.
Liver cancer’s symptoms only manifest at its later stages, which makes its treatment difficult. Different treatments include therapeutic agents and surgery. Detecting it early so that patients can enjoy a longer lifespan is critical. According to the blog “Boost Your Knowledge On Liver Cancer,” people must understand liver cancer ailments to make informed decisions such as a healthy diet and immunization against certain viruses. Making proper lifestyle choices and changes can curb liver cancer as well.
Liver Cancer: How To Define It?
Hepatic Malignant neoplasm is one of the common cancers that has been highly accelerated in the past few years due to abnormal growth in the liver’s cells. This organ is vital to the body, and its health is crucial. Adults experience liver cancer, which physicians typically call “liver cancer.” The second kind of liver cancer that occurs when bile ducts are formed within liver tissues is called Cholangiocarcinoma.
At the present moment, liver cancer incidence is skyrocketing in the United States. Experts predict a rise of 41,630 new liver cancer cases in 2024, whereas the death toll estimates tick up to a shocking 29,840. In the year of the peak pandemic, 2020, approximately 9,05,677 new liver cancer patients emerged globally.
Long-lasting liver pathologies like Hepatitis and Cirrhosis themselves can lead to liver cancer. Hence, it is necessary to find viable preventive techniques and treatment tactics to minimize the number of patients suffering from this disease.
What Are The Risk Factors?
Hepatocellular carcinoma typically is the standard type of liver tumor, the causes being numerous.
- Chronic Viral Infections: The HBV above and HCV can prove very detrimental to one’s health. First, they weaken the immune system when they invade the body. This significantly damages the liver and culminates in severe liver scarring, which may evolve into cirrhosis. Damaged livers translate to an increased susceptibility to developing cancer.
- Cirrhosis: Liver cancer, medically termed HCC, was primarily diagnosed in patients having cirrhosis and who abused alcohol and contracted hepatotropic viral infections like HBV and HCV. 80% of such people are diagnosed with HCC. A functional decline after liver scarring sets in and accounts for the increased probability of cancer risk.
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): Carrying extra weight for your body can cause many particular health issues, one of them being issues related to liver fat. Such individuals face a gloomy prediction regarding liver cancer – starting from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease due to cirrhosis.
- Lifestyle Factors: These lifestyle choices can put us at risk of developing liver cancer. Those who are heavy drinkers and are obese, diabetic, or frequently smoking increase their chances of getting liver cancer. Also, the risk gets higher as the amount of alcohol consumed increases. The liver cancer risk of a smoking individual is twice as high as nonsmokers.
Are There Any Symptoms?
Detecting liver cancer during its early stages is quite challenging due to the weak symptoms that it reveals. Among the common signs, one can notice weight loss even when no effort is made on the person’s part. People might also experience a lack of appetite while feeling nauseous or rather sick.
Another troubling sign is extreme pain and discomfort in one’s right abdomen, where the liver is located. This may also manifest as jaundice, when a person’s skin and the white part of the eyes turn yellow, indicating the presence of a defective liver. Other symptoms include difficulty with everyday tasks due to extreme fatigue and bruising or bleeding easily.
It is often seen that these signs are mistaken for an entirely different illness, which is why many people discover they have liver cancer when it is already at a dire stage. This shows that one needs to monitor one’s health closely and seek medical assistance should one witness these symptoms.
Diagnosis
The determination of liver cancer is a complex and intricate procedure that begins with a medical history and a physical examination. This includes asking about possible symptoms and assessing the patient’s prior health records, all to establish the likelihood of liver cancer. Doctors can confirm or disprove their assumptions with ultrasounds, CT scans, or MRIs. These systems utilize sound waves and IV injections to take liver images. Ultrasounds are the most commonly used, while MRIs offer more explicit pictures of the liver than the other two.
Another method of diagnosing this disease includes blood tests used to examine a substance known as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Abnormally high concentrations of AFP signify the potential for cancer, thus allowing doctors to explore further. Finally, a liver biopsy may be conducted, where cancer cells are scrutinized under a microscope to examine for any within a small sample of liver tissue. This technique aids in validating the existence of liver cancer.
What Are The Treatment Options?
The strategies administered within the treatment of liver cancer often depend upon the overall health of the person, the regressive nature of the disease itself, and the present and adequate functioning of the liver. Some of these treatment methods may include:
- Surgery: Medical intervention succeeds through early cancer detection when cells remain confined to a single liver lobe because surgical removal then becomes viable. Transplantation of a donor organ to replace the liver remains a treatment option.
- Ablation Therapies: These therapies seek to destroy cancerous tissue through the use of Intervention techniques. There are two forms of ablation treatment: microwave ablation, which utilizes microwave radiation to further blast the malignancy, and radiofrequency ablation, which employs radio waves and targets the tumor for removal.
- Chemotherapy: This is performed using an embolization device under the TACE method. This device allows people with tumors to block these arteries. When the arms that supply blood to the cancerous tumor are blocked, chemotherapy is administered to the blood veins directly. The drugs for chemotherapy are harsh poisons that trigger a reaction from the cancerous tissue by either destroying or reducing it.
- Systemic Therapies: These strategies are adopted by the medical teams for patients who are suffering from severe liver cancer. The treatment strategy is composed of specific liver cancer-fighting medications while boosting the body’s defenses against the disease.
- Ayurvedic Treatment: The traditional Indian medical practice focuses on preserving body equilibrium and liver health. The remedies designed by Ayurveda doctors for liver cancer patients include dietary recommendations and herbal interventions. The ‘whole person’ treatment takes precedence over disease-specific interventions for their medical practices.
Multiple treatment approaches that work together offer a better quality of life to liver cancer patients while helping them fight their condition.
Are There Any Prevention Strategies?
It is widely recognized that prevention is far superior to treatment. Therefore, it is critical to put safeguards into effect to avoid liver cancer, such as these:
- Vaccination: One of the best ways of preventing liver cancer is treating a patient with vaccines for the hepatitis B virus. This vaccine is advocated for infants because they do not have liver issues, and this reduces the chances of them developing problems in the future. While a preventive vaccine for hepatitis C does not exist, some drugs can assist patients who manage to get infected.
- Screening: Watching over those at risk, such as people with hepatitis B and C, is of utmost importance. Regular check-ups will focus on possible abnormalities that can be fixed during the first stages of development.
- Changes in Lifestyle: Implementing lifestyle changes is essential for effectively reducing the risk of liver cancer. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and controlling body weight are fundamental. Liver-quenching beverages and refraining from tobacco will ensure more protection for the liver. This will decrease the chances of liver cancer and make people healthier.
Conclusion
Liver cancer is a serious health problem and a global challenge. It is essential to be familiar with its risk factors, signs, possible ways to diagnose it, treatment options, and methods for preventing the disease because effective management can significantly improve the patient’s outcome. With more research into this field, patients can learn more about liver cancer by seeking information from dependable sources such as government websites or health organizations.
To learn more about liver cancer prevention methods and treatment, visit websites by leading institutions like the National Cancer Institute or the American Cancer Society.
Sources:
https://www.aacr.org/patients-caregivers/cancer/liver-cancer-adult/
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/liver-cancer
https://www.cancer.gov/types/liver/what-is-liver-cancer
https://www.esmo.org/content/download/6615/115103/file/EN-Liver-Cancer-Guide-for-Patients.pdf
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9418-liver-cancer
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7937489/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/liver-cancer-hepatocellular-carcinoma
https://www.cancer.gov/types/liver/what-is-liver-cancer/causes-risk-factors
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/liver-cancer/about/what-is-liver-cancer.html