Liver cancer is cancer that begins in the cells of your liver. Your liver is a football-sized organ that sits in the upper right portion of your abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach.

Liver cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world, but liver cancer is uncommon in the United States. Rates of liver cancer diagnosis are increasing in the United States.

Not all cancers that affect the liver are considered liver cancer. Cancer that begins in another area of the body, such as the colon, lung or breast, and then spreads to the liver is called metastatic cancer, rather than liver cancer. And this type of cancer is named after the organ in which it began -- such as metastatic colon cancer to describe cancer that begins in the colon and spreads to the liver.

Symptoms

Most people do not have signs and symptoms in the early stages of primary liver cancer. When signs and symptoms do appear, they may include:

1)Losing weight without trying
2)Loss of appetite
3)Upper abdominal pain
4)Nausea and vomiting
5)General weakness and fatigue
6)An enlarged liver
7)Abdominal swelling
8)Yellow discoloration of your skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)
9)White, chalky stools

Causes

It is 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 cancerous cells.

Types of liver cancer

Primary liver cancer, which begins in the cells of the liver, is divided into different types based on the kind of cells that become cancerous. Types include:

Hepatocellular carcinoma. This is the most common form of primary liver cancer. It starts in the hepatocytes, the main type of liver cell.

Cholangiocarcinoma. This type of cancer begins in the small tube-like bile ducts within the liver. This type of cancer is sometimes called bile duct cancer.

Hepatoblastoma. This liver cancer affects infants and young children.

Angiosarcoma or hemangiosarcoma. These cancers begin in the blood vessels of the liver and grow very quickly.

Western Medicine Treatment

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 is not 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:

1)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.

2)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 certain people with early-stage liver cancer.

3)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.

4)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 one or more thin needles into small incisions in your abdomen. When the needles reach the tumor, they are heated with an electric current, destroying the cancer cells.

5)Injecting alcohol into the tumor. During alcohol injection, pure alcohol is injected directly into tumors, either through the skin or during an operation. Alcohol causes the tumor cells to die.

6)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, chemotherapy drugs are injected into the hepatic artery -- the artery from which liver cancers derive their blood supply -- and then the artery is blocked. This serves to cut blood flow to the cancer cells and to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the cancer cells.

5)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 therapy for liver cancer may involve a technique called stereotactic radiosurgery that simultaneously focuses many beams of radiation at one point in the body. Radiation side effects may include fatigue, nausea and vomiting.

6)Targeted drug therapy. Sorafenib (Nexavar) is a targeted drug designed to interfere with a tumors ability to generate new blood vessels. Sorafenib has been shown to slow or stop advanced hepatocellular carcinoma from progressing for a few months longer than with no treatment. More studies are needed to understand how this and other targeted therapies may be used to control advanced liver cancer.

Adopted from mayoclinic.com