What are the symptoms of liver cancer at different stages? What are the causes of liver cancer?

The prevalence of liver cancer has always been at the top of the list of various tumor diseases. In recent years, the number of patients with liver disease has remained high and has become a major killer threatening human health.

What causes liver cancer? What are the causes of liver disease? In addition to environmental factors, daily diet is the main factor that causes liver disease. Especially those foods that have expired, moldy, or rotten are simply the culprits of cancer and should not be taken lightly. Food that has been left for too long will produce various toxic substances, which can cause fatal harm to human health.

Moldy food can easily lead to liver cancer

Many people think that only the rotten part of a moldy apple is infected by mold, and as long as this part is cut off, the rest is still good and can still be eaten. In fact, this is not the case. Once food begins to mold, the part that has not completely deteriorated has already entered the process of microbial metabolism, and has produced a large number of bacteria and toxins that are invisible to the naked eye.

If we eat it, we are likely to suffer from acute poisoning. Fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, anorexia and other physical discomforts will torment us for at least three to five days. In severe cases, we may even develop toxic liver disease symptoms after a few months, including jaundice, liver enlargement, liver pain, spleen enlargement, ascites, lower limb edema and abnormal liver function. We may also experience heart enlargement, pulmonary edema, and even convulsions and coma. Most patients will have severe rectal bleeding after death.

If you smell moldy rice, or find that milk has turned sour, or think that cooking oil is contaminated by mold, then throw them away immediately. Because when food becomes moldy, microbial metabolism will produce a very toxic and strong carcinogen - aflatoxin, which is a highly toxic substance that mainly damages human liver tissue after entering the human body.

As the body's detoxification organ, the liver is responsible for breaking down and transforming toxic substances in the body. When there are too many toxins for the liver to break down, they will remain in the liver. Too many toxic substances accumulated in the liver will inevitably damage liver cells, and over time, liver cells will die.

Therefore, in life we ​​must pay attention to the preservation of food and not eat food that has been stored for too long or has spoiled. Although "thrift" is a virtue, it brings fatal harm to our body.

We should also treat moldy food differently. Do not eat obviously moldy food, especially peanuts, corn, melon seeds, walnuts, etc. Even if you occasionally eat a nut that smells moldy, you should spit it out immediately and rinse your mouth carefully, because aflatoxin can accumulate in the human body. Do not continue to eat it because it is troublesome.

When storing grain, oil and other foods, they must be kept at low temperatures, well ventilated, dry, and away from direct sunlight. Do not use plastic bags to store food. If you find that the rice at home has a slight musty smell, you must rub it thoroughly and wash it before steaming or cooking, because aflatoxin is mostly present on the surface of the grains, and rubbing can remove a large amount of toxins on the surface of the grain. Cooking rice in a pressure cooker is also more suitable for removing toxins from rice.

A recent study shows that chlorophyll and other substances in green vegetables can effectively reduce the toxicity of aflatoxin, a carcinogen, and reduce the body's absorption of aflatoxin. Researchers pointed out that green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and cabbage are rich in chlorophyll and chlorophyllin.

Of course, to prevent the occurrence of diseases and protect our health, the key is to stay away from unhealthy, expired, and moldy foods.

Know the foods that are likely to cause liver cancer and understand the main symptoms. So, what are the symptoms of liver cancer?

Early symptoms:

1. Severe lack of appetite

Liver cancer can cause pain and discomfort, emotional tension, loss of interest in food, and lack of mental and nutritional intake, which aggravate the condition of cancer patients.

Pain, discomfort, and emotional tension caused by liver cancer

2. Severe nausea and vomiting

Common symptoms in patients with advanced cancer may be side effects of treatment or may be caused by cancer invading the digestive or nervous systems. These symptoms are often more distressing than cancer pain.

3. Pain in the liver area

In the late stage of liver cancer, normal tissues will be destroyed and infiltrated by tumors, causing compression and destruction of adjacent nerve roots, ischemic necrosis of local tissues, obstruction of blood return, and infiltration of bones and periosteum, all of which can cause pain. Therefore, pain is the most common complication of patients with advanced liver cancer.

Symptoms of mid- and late-stage liver cancer:

Typical symptoms and signs of liver cancer generally appear in the middle and late stages, mainly including liver pain, fatigue, weight loss, jaundice, ascites, etc.

1. Pain in the liver area: The most common type is intermittent, persistent dull pain or bloating. The pain is caused by the rapid growth of the cancer, which tightens the liver capsule and causes the tumor to invade the diaphragm. The pain may radiate to the right shoulder or right back. A tumor growing to the right back may cause right waist pain. Sudden onset of severe abdominal pain and peritoneal irritation signs indicates bleeding under the capsule of the cancer nodule or rupture into the abdominal cavity.

2. Gastrointestinal symptoms: decreased appetite, indigestion, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are easily overlooked due to their lack of specificity.

3. Fatigue, weight loss, and general weakness. A small number of patients may develop cachexia in the late stages.

4. Fever: Generally, the temperature is low and reaches above 39°C, which is continuous fever or low fever in the afternoon or high fever of remittent type. Fever is related to the absorption of necrotic products of tumor. Compression or invasion of bile duct by tumor may cause biliary infection.

5. Symptoms of metastatic lesions: There are corresponding symptoms at the place where the tumor metastasizes, which sometimes become the first symptoms of liver cancer. For example, metastasis to the lungs can cause coughing and hemoptysis; pleural metastasis can cause chest pain and bloody pleural effusion; embolism of the pulmonary artery or branches can cause pulmonary infarction, which can cause sudden severe dyspnea and chest pain; blockage of the inferior vena cava by the tumor thrombus can cause severe edema of the lower limbs and even a drop in blood pressure; blockage of the hepatic vein can cause Budd-Chiari syndrome and edema of the lower limbs; metastasis to the bones can cause local pain or pathological fractures; metastasis to the spine or compression of the spinal nerves can cause local pain and paraplegia; intracranial metastasis can cause corresponding localization symptoms and signs, such as intracranial hypertension, which can lead to brain herniation and sudden death.

6. Other systemic symptoms: Endocrine or metabolic syndromes caused by abnormal metabolism of the tumor itself or various effects of cancer tissue on the body are called paraneoplastic syndromes, which sometimes precede the symptoms of liver cancer itself. Common ones include: liver cancer and portal vein cancer.