Why do young people get liver cancer? Five symptoms suggest liver cancer

As the number of patients with liver diseases increases, the number of patients with liver cancer also increases. Liver cancer has now become our second largest cancer, second only to lung cancer.

Causes of liver cancer in young people:

Hepatitis B: If you are infected with hepatitis B in childhood and neglect to receive treatment, it may turn into cancer.

Smoking: Excessive smoking is one of the causes of liver cancer in young people. Cigarette smoke contains a variety of substances that can cause cell mutations.

Alcoholism: Frequent excessive drinking causes the stomach to be repeatedly subjected to the adverse stimulation of ethanol, especially strong liquor with a high ethanol content, which can easily cause chronic stomach inflammation and severe hyperplasia of the gastric mucosa.

Improper diet: The causes of liver cancer include eating salted fish, bacon, salted eggs and other pickled foods, or liking smoked and grilled foods. These foods contain more nitrates, which can be converted into nitrosamine compounds in the stomach, which are the "culprits" of liver cancer. Some young people eat too fast or eat too much, which often increases the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. There are also young people who like to eat hot pot and "spicy hot pot", which also creates conditions for the occurrence of liver cancer. Therefore, you should eat more fresh vegetables, the vitamin C in which can block the formation of nitrosamines in the body.

Mental stress: The pace of work and life of young people is accelerating. The competition in society also increases the psychological pressure of young people. They are in a state of constant mental stress, which can also induce stomach diseases and even liver cancer in a feedback manner.

Five symptoms indicate the arrival of liver cancer

1. Weight loss and fatigue

This symptom often occurs in the middle and late stages of liver cancer. It may be that tumor metabolites cause changes in the body's biochemical metabolism, reduced food intake, and cachexia in severe cases.

2. Fever

The fever caused by liver cancer is generally around 37.5'C~38℃, occasionally reaching above 39℃, with irregular fever pattern, often without chills. Fever is more common in the afternoon, and sometimes remittent high fever can also be seen. Fever can be caused by tumor necrosis or its metabolites.

3. Digestive tract symptoms

Common symptoms include decreased appetite, upper abdominal fullness after meals, or even nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

4. Pain

This is a common symptom in patients with liver cancer. The pain is usually located in the liver area. The pain in the liver area of ​​patients with mid-to-late stage liver cancer is usually located in the right rib or under the xiphoid process. The nature of the pain is mostly persistent dull pain, or stabbing pain. A small number of patients may also have special manifestations of pain. Patients with liver cancer may also have referred pain in other parts of the body. The pain area of ​​some patients is located in the upper and middle abdomen, which is mostly caused by left lobe liver cancer. However, it is sometimes misdiagnosed as a stomach disease and treatment is delayed. Some patients may experience right shoulder pain.

Clinically, it is more common in tumors near the diaphragm of the right lobe. Because it affects the diaphragm, it causes referred pain in the right shoulder, which is easily misdiagnosed as frozen shoulder. When liver cancer metastasizes to other parts of the body, symptoms of metastatic lesions will appear. Metastasis to the lungs may cause chest pain; metastasis to the bones may cause bone pain, etc. Therefore, when liver cancer patients experience chest pain or bone pain, it should be considered that liver cancer metastasis is the cause.

Clinically, a small number of patients may experience sudden severe pain in the liver area, which is mostly caused by rupture and bleeding of cancerous nodules located on the surface of the liver. If the patient is also accompanied by dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations, and low blood pressure, it mostly indicates that the cancerous nodule has ruptured and is complicated by severe internal bleeding. If this happens, emergency rescue should be carried out in time.

5. Other symptoms

Patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis or invasive tumor growth that causes liver decompensation may have a bleeding tendency, such as nosebleeds, gingival and subcutaneous ecchymosis, etc.; hypoproteinemia may also occur, leading to edema, ascites, abdominal distension, etc.

Dietary conditioning methods for patients with liver cancer

1. Eat soft food that is easy to digest, avoid hard and spicy food, eat less fried food, and eat small and frequent meals. Avoid irritating food and food with high plant fiber content, so as not to cause rupture and bleeding of esophageal or gastric veins in patients with liver cirrhosis. This is one of the dietary points for liver cancer patients.

2. Eat a diversified diet and pay attention to the combination of foods to ensure that they are colorful, fragrant and tasty, so as to increase appetite. This is also the key point of the diet for liver cancer patients.

3. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, drink fruit juice and supplement vitamins.

4. Provide high-protein, high-calorie, high-vitamin, low-fat food. Limit the intake of animal oil.

5. Patients with fever should drink more water to help dissipate heat.

6. For patients with ascites, sodium intake should be restricted and a low-salt or salt-free diet should be given.

7. People who vomit frequently should temporarily fast to prevent food from irritating the stomach, increasing the frequency of vomiting, and wasting physical strength. These are the key points of dietary conditioning for liver cancer patients.