What are the symptoms of liver cancer? Be alert to liver cancer if you have these 6 symptoms

The incidence and mortality of liver cancer are increasing year by year, second only to lung cancer and stomach cancer. The symptoms of liver cancer are generally not obvious, especially in the early stages of the disease. Once symptoms appear, it often means that the liver has been severely damaged, and usually worsens within a few weeks. Below, let's take a look at the common symptoms of liver cancer.

What are the symptoms of liver cancer?

1. Digestive tract related symptoms

The liver is the largest digestive organ. In the early stages of liver cancer, digestive tract-related symptoms may occur, such as loss of appetite, belching, aversion to oil, nausea, and a feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen after meals. Hepatic vein or portal vein cancer thrombosis can lead to gastrointestinal dysfunction and portal hypertension, causing patients to have increased bowel movements and abdominal distension. When gastrointestinal dysfunction occurs, it can also cause belching and indigestion.

2. Weight loss and general weakness

Liver cancer patients often experience a general feeling of weakness, which may be due to insufficient energy caused by digestive disorders and nutrient absorption disorders; it may also be caused by liver cancer cell necrosis, which releases a large amount of toxic substances; another possibility is that after liver cells are damaged, liver function declines, resulting in metabolic disorders and failure to inactivate toxins in time. As cancer cells grow larger, the body becomes more emaciated, and even cachexia may occur.

3. Acute abdominal pain

When the cancer lesion ruptures, it can cause pain in the liver area, and there will be obvious tenderness in the liver area during physical examination. Some patients may also experience acute abdominal pain after the cancer lesion ruptures, accompanied by peritoneal irritation. In severe cases, blood pressure may drop or even shock may occur.

4. Pain in the liver area

Pain occurs in the right rib or xiphoid process, mainly intermittent or persistent dull pain. Because cancer cells grow rapidly, they will compress the liver capsule, causing pulling pain. It is also possible that the pain is caused by necrosis of cancer cells irritating the liver capsule. Only a few patients have sudden severe pain in the liver area spontaneously or after liver puncture, which is caused by rupture and bleeding of cancer nodules on the surface of the liver.

5. Fever

Most liver cancer patients will have low-moderate fever or high fever, with body temperature above 39°C, without chills. Liver cancer fever is generally cancer fever, because after cancer tissue necrosis, the heat source is released into the blood circulation. Liver cancer patients have low resistance, are prone to infection, and are also prone to fever. It is necessary to combine blood counts and observe the effect of antibacterial treatment to determine whether it is cancer fever.

6. Bleeding tendency

When suffering from liver cancer, liver function is damaged and coagulation function is abnormal, which leads to bleeding tendency, such as gum bleeding and subcutaneous ecchymosis. In addition, when liver cancer patients have portal hypertension, it will lead to esophageal varices, causing gastrointestinal bleeding, which is a risk factor for death in liver cancer patients.

Kind tips

In addition to the above 6 symptoms, when liver cancer patients have ascites, they will also experience lower limb edema. In mild cases, it is only ankle edema, and in severe cases, it will spread to the entire lower limbs. Once the above symptoms occur, you must go to the hospital for examination in time. Only early detection and early treatment can improve the cure rate of liver cancer.