Liver cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the world,
causing more than 600,000 deaths each year. The number of Americans with
liver cancer has been slowly but steadily rising for several decades
with over 33,000 people expected to be diagnosed in 2014. The incidence
is increasing due to the silent epidemic of hepatitis B and C, the rise
in the number of people with morbid obesity and diabetes, and the
persistence of alcoholic cirrhosis - all of which are risk factors for
the disease.
Symptoms of liver cancer
include loss of appetite, weight loss, feeling of fullness, nausea or
vomiting, pain in the abdomen or near the right shoulder blade, and
yellowing of the skin. Unfortunately, symptoms often do not appear until
the disease is an advanced stage, which is why regular screening and
surveillance are critically important for patients living with liver
disease. Regular checkups in those without risk factors are also
important as anyone can develop liver cancer.
"Patients
often do not experience symptoms of liver cancer until it's already
progressed to an advanced stage so it's important for those at risk to
be screened," says Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa, medical oncologist at Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, chair of the Hepatobiliary Task Force of
the National Cancer Institute, and a member of the American Liver
Foundation's National Medical Advisory Committee.
Read more...Labels: diagnostics, Liver cancer HCC