What are the symptoms of liver cancer? What tests can usually confirm liver cancer?

As the incidence and mortality of liver cancer increase day by day, people are paying more and more attention to it. It is very important to make a good diagnosis of the disease, which can buy precious time for timely and effective treatment. So, how to diagnose liver cancer?

First, let’s take a look at the early symptoms of liver cancer.

1. Pain in the liver area

About 80 to 90 percent of hepatitis B patients will experience pain in the liver area. This pain is characterized by chronic, persistent dull pain, and is also accompanied by fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and poor appetite. When bleeding occurs under the liver capsule or blood passes through the liver capsule into the abdominal cavity, the pain in the liver area worsens, accompanied by peritoneal injury signs such as upper abdominal tenderness and muscle tightness, which is unbearable.

2. Fever

A large number of liver cancer patients will have a low fever without chills, and a small number of patients will have a high fever, which can reach above 39°C. Most liver cancer fevers are cancerous fevers, which are caused by the release of pyrogens into the blood circulation after tumor tissue necrosis.

3. Weight loss and fatigue

The cause of fatigue is not clear yet. It may be due to digestive dysfunction, impaired nutrient absorption leading to energy deficiency, or liver cell damage leading to decreased liver function, resulting in metabolic disorders and failure to inactivate certain toxins in time, or the release of toxic substances due to necrosis of liver cancer tissue.

4. Lower limb edema

Most patients with liver cancer will experience lower limb edema. Mild cases mainly affect the ankles, while severe cases may affect the entire lower limbs. Some patients also have severe lower limb edema, with fluid seeping out of the thigh skin.

5. Digestive tract symptoms

Loss of appetite, worse after meals. Upper abdominal distension. Warm breath, indigestion, nausea, fatigue, weight loss, etc. are the early digestive tract symptoms of liver cancer, among which loss of appetite and abdominal distension are the most common. Diarrhea is also a common early symptom of liver cancer.

When these symptoms occur, scientific examinations are needed to confirm the diagnosis. Modern medical imaging methods also provide great help in the diagnosis of liver cancer. They can clearly see the location, shape, size, number, and blood supply of the tumor, providing a reliable basis for later treatment. The specific examination items are as follows:

1. Ultrasound examination is the most common examination in the diagnosis of liver cancer. It is widely used in the screening of liver cancer and follow-up after treatment because of its simple operation, low price, convenience, non-invasiveness and no side effects on the human body.

2. CT examination plays a very important role in the diagnosis of liver cancer. Through abdominal CT enhanced scanning, the specific situation of the tumor can be clearly seen: location, shape, size, number, richness of tumor blood supply and the relationship between intrahepatic ducts. It is very helpful for the staging of liver cancer, further diagnosis, guidance of subsequent treatment and judgment of prognosis.

3. Selective hepatic artery angiography is mostly used for patients with liver cancer who cannot be diagnosed after other examinations. It is an invasive examination that can clearly see small lesions in the liver and the blood supply of the tumor. It can not only further confirm the liver cancer, but also block the tumor-feeding blood vessels by injecting iodized oil, thereby achieving the purpose of treatment.