What are the symptoms of liver cancer? What causes bleeding in advanced liver cancer?

Liver cancer is a malignant tumor that occurs in the liver. There are usually no obvious symptoms in the early stages. As the cancer progresses, it damages liver function and other tissues, and even causes distant metastasis. The body will then experience various related symptoms and serious complications such as bleeding and ascites. So, regarding the symptoms of liver cancer, the causes of bleeding caused by advanced liver cancer, and the treatment of ascites in advanced liver cancer, we asked Zhong Xuanfang, deputy chief physician of Huizhou First People's Hospital, to answer our questions.

What are the symptoms of liver cancer?

The main symptoms of liver cancer are as follows: 1. Pain in the liver area, which is the most common symptom of liver cancer; 2. Enlarged liver, palpable masses, etc.; 3. Jaundice; 4. Manifestations of cirrhosis, such as ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, etc.; 5. Systemic symptoms, such as progressive weight loss, loss of appetite, etc. The onset of liver cancer is relatively hidden, and there may be no obvious symptoms in the early stage. If obvious clinical symptoms appear, it indicates that the condition has mostly entered the middle and late stages of liver cancer.

What causes the bleeding?

There are three main types of bleeding caused by liver cancer. One is ruptured bleeding of liver cancer nodules, which is mainly manifested as internal bleeding, which can be spontaneous or caused by external forces. Another is gastrointestinal bleeding, which is mainly caused by ruptured bleeding of esophageal varicose veins or portal hypertensive gastropathy. The third is extensive bleeding caused by coagulation disorders, such as nose bleeding, conjunctival bleeding, subcutaneous bleeding, etc., which is caused by liver failure in the late stage.

How to treat ascites in advanced liver cancer?

The treatment of ascites in advanced liver cancer includes general treatment, symptomatic treatment and treatment targeting the cause. General treatment mainly involves a low-salt diet and water restriction, symptomatic treatment mainly involves diuresis and swelling reduction, treatment targeting the cause of liver cancer, such as improving liver function, supplementing albumin, and draining ascites, etc. If spontaneous peritonitis exists, anti-infection treatment can be used; treatment targeting the cause, such as cancerous ascites, mainly involves draining ascites to relieve symptoms.

The symptoms of liver cancer are mostly caused by liver damage, circulatory disorders or distant metastasis. The treatment should not only target the tumor itself, but also other complications to relieve the patient's pain. Liver cancer patients need to pay special attention to their diet, avoid eating hard and irritating foods that aggravate the condition, limit sugar and salt intake to reduce the burden on circulation, and appropriately increase high-quality protein intake to strengthen the body.