What are the early symptoms of liver cancer? 7 early symptoms of liver cancer

1. Poor appetite, nausea and vomiting: mostly due to liver damage and tumor compression of the gastrointestinal tract. Poor appetite is the most common symptom, and the more severe the condition, the more obvious the symptoms.

2. Pain in the liver area: Pain in the liver area is the most common and main clinical symptom of primary liver cancer. The pain is usually persistent, dull, distending or stabbing, and is more obvious at night or after fatigue.

3. Abdominal distension: Abdominal distension is caused by huge tumors, ascites and liver dysfunction, and is more obvious in the upper abdomen, especially after meals and in the afternoon.

4. Vomiting blood and black stools: Vomiting blood is mainly caused by primary liver cancer combined with portal hypertension due to cirrhosis, rupture of varicose veins in the lower esophagus and gastric fundus, and acute gastric mucosal lesions.

5. Fatigue and weight loss: due to excessive metabolic consumption of malignant tumors and lack of food intake, primary liver cancer may not be obvious in the early stages. As the disease progresses, the body weight also decreases. In the late stages of primary liver cancer, patients are often extremely emaciated and anemic, and suffer from cachexia. A small number of primary liver cancer patients with slower disease progression may also experience temporary weight gain after rest and supportive treatment.

6. Fever: due to tumor tissue necrosis, increased metabolic products, and tumor compression of the bile duct combined with cholangitis, it is called cancer fever in non-infected patients. It is usually not accompanied by chills. Unexplained low-grade fever is a common symptom of primary liver cancer, and the body temperature is generally between 37.5℃ and 38℃.

7. Diarrhea: Diarrhea is mainly caused by varying degrees of liver damage, which leads to a decrease in digestion and absorption capacity. It can also be caused by the metastasis of liver cancer cells to form portal vein cancer thrombus. Although this symptom is not very common, it can sometimes be the first symptom of primary liver cancer.

8. Metastatic symptoms: Studies have found that primary liver cancer can metastasize to the lungs, bones, pleura, gastrointestinal tract, and lymph nodes. Depending on the location of the metastasis, it can cause corresponding symptoms, such as chest pain and hemoptysis in lung metastasis, and local pain and pathological fractures in bone metastasis.