How to diagnose liver cancer in its early stages? 2 common knowledge points about liver cancer prevention

Liver cancer is one of the common malignant tumors, and there are usually no symptoms in the early stages of liver cancer, making it difficult for patients to detect. Let’s take a look at how to diagnose early liver cancer.

Early liver cancer often has no specific symptoms. Many patients with early liver cancer are discovered occasionally during physical examinations, and most patients go to the hospital for treatment only after they have clinical symptoms. At this time, the best time for treatment has been lost due to the late stage of the disease.

Early detection of liver cancer and early diagnosis and treatment of these patients are important steps for liver cancer patients to achieve long-term survival. From the onset of liver cell carcinoma, the course of the disease is about 2 years, and symptoms often appear in the second half of the year. AFP can be positive 8 months before symptoms appear, so when there are no symptoms, checking AFP may detect early liver cancer. Physical examinations in healthy people or regular examinations in people at high risk of liver cancer can effectively detect early liver cancer.

Usually, alpha-fetoprotein and B-ultrasound examinations are performed twice a year. A single blood test for alpha-fetoprotein is not enough, because only 60% to 70% of liver cancer patients have elevated alpha-fetoprotein. Using alpha-fetoprotein alone will miss about 1/3 of liver cancer patients. Now, B-ultrasound examinations can detect lesions as small as 0.5 cm.

AFP combined with B-ultrasound examination can effectively detect early liver cancer during the general survey. For high-risk groups with hepatitis B and C virus infection or a family history of liver cancer, a liver cancer general survey should be conducted at least once every 6 months, which is very important for the early detection of liver cancer.

In addition, because liver cancer is extremely harmful, prevention is the most important thing. Let's do some popular science on liver cancer prevention.

1. Prevent the onset of hepatitis

Using hepatitis vaccines to prevent hepatitis and thus liver cancer has become one of the most promising ways to prevent liver cancer. Not only do children need to be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine when they are born, but adults who have not been vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine or have not had hepatitis can also be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine. However, it is estimated that it will take decades to see the effect. In addition to the hepatitis B vaccine, attention should also be paid to the control of other transmission routes, such as diet, surgery, blood transfusion, injections, acupuncture and haircuts.

2. Quit smoking and drinking

Smoking and drinking are also bad for fatty liver. Drinking wine, beer, and a small amount of alcohol can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, but this is not true. Alcohol is harmful to the human body. The gastric mucosa in the stomach has a protective effect on the human body. Alcohol can digest the gastric mucosa, injure the cells of the stomach, and the toxic substances in the food are easily absorbed by the stomach. This can easily cause alcoholic hepatitis, reduce the immune function of the liver and the whole body, and harm the detoxification function of the liver. This is why people who drink have poor detoxification function and are prone to alcoholic cirrhosis. Some cirrhosis will turn into liver cancer.