What are the symptoms of liver cancer? It is better to know these common knowledge about liver cancer as early as possible

China is a hard-hit area for liver cancer, and surveys have found that 80% of liver cancer patients are in the middle or late stages. So, what are the early symptoms of liver cancer?

What are the early symptoms of liver cancer?

1. Significant decrease in appetite: abdominal distension, indigestion, and sometimes nausea and vomiting.

2. Liver pain: There may be persistent or intermittent pain in the liver area, which may sometimes be aggravated by changes in body position.

It may radiate to the back or right shoulder. Advanced liver cancer may cause sudden severe abdominal pain and peritoneal irritation, which may be caused by necrosis of the tumor nodules or bleeding into the abdominal cavity. At this time, patients often go to the emergency room with symptoms of acute abdomen.

3. Systemic failure: severe fatigue, weight loss, progressive anemia and edema.

4. Jaundice, ascites, and skin itching are common symptoms of liver cancer.

About 1/3 of the cases have jaundice during the course of the disease. The cause of jaundice is that the tumor invades the main bile duct in the liver, and the metastatic cancer of the portal lymph nodes compresses the extrahepatic bile duct. Ascites is often caused by the patient's original liver cirrhosis, the invasion of cancer tissue into the vein to form a cancer thrombus, and the compression of the portal vein by cancer nodules. Ascites often accumulates very quickly and can be straw yellow or bloody. Skin itching is a common symptom of patients with liver disease and liver cancer.

5. Bleeding.

It often manifests as nose bleeding and subcutaneous bleeding, which is mostly caused by liver tissue destruction and liver failure. Portal hypertension can cause esophageal and gastric varicose vein rupture and bleeding. When cancerous tissue invades the bile duct at the liver portal, it can cause bile duct bleeding.

6. Hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and fever.

90% of liver cancers cause liver enlargement. The enlarged liver is often hard and irregular in appearance, with nodules of varying sizes on the edges. Giant liver cancers can sometimes deform the liver, making it difficult to distinguish during palpation. Splenomegaly mostly occurs in patients with liver cancer and cirrhosis. Metastatic cancer to the spleen is extremely rare.

Fever is quite common in patients with liver cancer, which may be caused by ischemic necrosis of cancer tissue, absorption of necrotic products and concurrent infection.

Therefore, it is very important to do self-examination at ordinary times. "Early detection and early treatment" is the principle of liver cancer treatment, so we should pay attention to it at ordinary times. When you feel tired and lying down to rest cannot relieve the symptoms, it is likely a sign of liver disease. If the cancer tissue is larger, there will be a dull feeling in the pit of the stomach, or a dull pain in the upper right part of the abdomen. Even if it is not painful, there will be a sense of oppression and discomfort. Symptoms caused by stomach disorders often occur, including loss of appetite, nausea, fullness after eating, and stomach discomfort. If you lose weight, have unexplained fever from time to time, and jaundice appears, be sure to go to the hospital for alpha-fetoprotein (AFp), B-ultrasound, CT, X-ray hepatic angiography and other methods to confirm the diagnosis.

Some atypical "signs" of early liver cancer

Hypoglycemia: The liver itself has a strong compensatory ability. Only when the area of ​​liver damage exceeds 70% to 80% will obvious hypoglycemia appear, manifested as dizziness, fatigue, sweating and other symptoms.

Erythrocytosis: Patients with long-term cirrhosis or chronic liver disease who have an increase in erythrocytosis without other reasons may be an early sign of liver cancer and should be taken seriously. This is because when liver cancer cells divide, they produce a lot of erythropoietin, which leads to excessive red blood cell production. However, while liver cancer patients have an increase in erythrocytosis, their white blood cells, platelets, and lymphocytes do not increase. Therefore, the more red blood cells there are, the more vigorously the liver cancer cells divide. Clinical manifestations include flushed face and sanguineous appearance.

Hyperlipidemia: Patients with cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis who have ruled out high-fat diet, heavy drinking, lack of exercise, and certain endocrine diseases but still have hyperlipidemia are also considered a sign of liver cancer. Clinically, it manifests as symptoms and signs of hyperlipidemia, such as obesity and atherosclerosis.

There are also many liver diseases that are easily misdiagnosed as liver cancer.

Hepatic hemangioma: Hepatic hemangioma is easily confused with hepatocellular carcinoma. In fact, hemangioma grows slowly and generally has no history of chronic liver disease. There are no clinical manifestations such as fatigue, poor appetite, abdominal distension, etc., and there will be no physical signs such as liver palms, spider nevi, jaundice, and edema of both lower limbs.

Uneven fatty liver: Some patients with fatty liver have uneven fat accumulation, which is sometimes difficult to distinguish from liver cancer. Clinically, fatty liver does not have the systemic manifestations of liver cancer patients, such as abdominal distension, diarrhea, discomfort in the right liver area, and weight loss.

Granuloma: Some female patients may have isolated, smooth, and complete nodules in the liver due to oral contraceptives, parasitic infections, or autoimmune disorders, which are difficult to distinguish from liver cancer on imaging. Ultrasound or CT-guided histological examination is recommended.

Liver abscess: Patients have clinical manifestations such as fatigue, low fever, weight loss, and discomfort in the liver area. It is difficult to differentiate from liver cancer in the early stages of the disease and requires a comprehensive judgment based on biochemical indicators such as blood routine, AFp, and liver function.