What are the symptoms and causes of liver cancer? Introduction to the causes and symptoms of liver cancer

What are the symptoms and causes of liver cancer? Liver cancer is very harmful, and there are many things in life that are easy to ignore that may cause liver cancer. At the same time, you should also know more about the symptoms of liver cancer. Here, let's take a look at the symptoms and causes of liver cancer.

Causes of Liver Cancer

Water pollution: Severe pollution of drinking water is one of the important causes of liver cancer, especially polluted ditch water, followed by river water, and well water is the lowest. Therefore, in villages without tap water facilities, drinking well water should be encouraged.

Viral hepatitis: Epidemiological statistics show that areas where hepatitis B is prevalent are also high-incidence areas for liver cancer. People who have had hepatitis B are 10 times more likely to develop liver cancer than those who have not. Long-term clinical observations have found that hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer are a trilogy of continuous migration and evolution. Recent studies have shown that viral hepatitis related to liver cancer mainly includes hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (BCV), and hepatitis B is the most common among them.

Long-term consumption of pickled, fried, and smoked foods: Pickled foods contain nitrosamines, and 3,4-benzopyrene in fried and smoked foods can induce cancer. Therefore, in daily life, everyone should try to reduce the consumption of pickled, fried, and smoked foods such as pickled meat, salted fish, barbecued meat, grilled sausages, and pickles.

Chemical carcinogens: Chemical substances that can cause liver cancer are mainly N-nitroso compounds, such as nitrosamines and nitrosamides, etc. In addition, pesticides, alcohol, safrole, etc. can also induce liver cancer.

Alcohol: As the saying goes, "drinking alcohol hurts the liver." Alcohol is not the direct cause of liver cancer, but it acts like a catalyst and can promote the occurrence and progression of liver cancer. People with a long-term alcohol addiction are more likely to develop liver cancer. This is because after alcohol enters the human body, it is mainly metabolized in the liver. The toxicity of alcohol to liver cells causes liver cells to have obstacles in the decomposition and metabolism of fatty acids, causing fat deposition in the liver and causing fatty liver. The more alcohol is consumed, the more severe the fatty liver becomes, which in turn causes liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. If hepatitis patients drink heavily, it will greatly accelerate and aggravate the formation and development of cirrhosis and promote the occurrence of liver cancer.

However, what are the symptoms of liver cancer?

Symptoms of Liver Cancer

Digestive tract symptoms: loss of appetite, bloating after dinner. Hiccups, indigestion, and nausea are common digestive tract symptoms, with decreased appetite and bloating being more common. Diarrhea is also a typical symptom of liver cancer. Since diarrhea occurs more frequently, it is often regarded as a chronic enteritis disease. Portal hypertension and intestinal dysfunction caused by portal vein or hepatic vein cancer thrombus can cause abdominal distension, increased bowel movement, and other phenomena in patients. Abdominal distension may also be caused by ascites. Gastrointestinal dysfunction can cause patients to experience indigestion, nausea, and other conditions.

Severe pain in the liver area: Long-term damage and infiltration of liver tissue by tumors and local ischemia and necrosis of liver tissue can cause severe pain in the liver area due to liver cancer. The pain symptoms in the late stage of liver cancer will continue to worsen. Advanced liver cancer patients with extremely weak constitutions may not be able to endure the pain, leading to fainting and shock. If not treated in time, it may be life-threatening.

Weight loss and fatigue: Liver cancer patients often feel weak all over, which is a bit like the symptoms of chronic hepatitis. The cause of weakness is unknown. It may be caused by digestive tract disorder, malnutrition, liver cell damage, liver function decline, or of course, liver cancer tissue necrosis produces toxic substances. Weight loss is also one of its typical symptoms, because liver function is damaged, and the degree of weight loss increases with the worsening of the disease.

Bleeding tendency: Gastrointestinal bleeding is common in the late stage of liver cancer and is also the main cause of death in liver cancer patients. It is mainly caused by portal hypertension leading to esophageal varices. Gingival bleeding, subcutaneous ecchymosis and other bleeding tendencies are common in liver cancer combined with cirrhosis. They are mainly caused by damaged liver function and abnormal coagulation function. Therefore, patients with liver cancer should pay attention to heavy bleeding. Hepatic encephalopathy and hepatic coma can be said to be manifestations of terminal liver cancer. Hepatic encephalopathy may be caused by upper gastrointestinal bleeding, infection, hypokalemia, improper drainage of ascites and other inducing factors. It has a low cure rate and a high mortality rate. Therefore, preventing its inducing factors is a very important factor for patients with advanced liver cancer.