What are the symptoms of advanced liver cancer? 4 nursing methods for advanced liver cancer

In recent years, the incidence of liver cancer has been increasing, and more and more people are suffering from liver cancer. Especially patients with advanced liver cancer, so what are the symptoms of advanced liver cancer? Many patients don't know, let's introduce the symptoms of advanced liver cancer to you, let's take a look at the symptoms of advanced liver cancer.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: pain in the liver area

The pain is usually located in the right rib or under the xiphoid process. The pain is intermittent or continuous dull pain or stabbing pain. Before the pain, the patient may feel discomfort in the right upper abdomen. The pain may be mild or severe or relieved by itself in the short term. The cause of the pain is the rapid growth of the tumor, which compresses the liver capsule and produces pulling pain. It may also be caused by necrotic material irritating the liver capsule.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: digestive tract symptoms

Loss of appetite and upper abdominal fullness after meals. Flatulence, indigestion, nausea, etc. are common digestive tract symptoms of liver cancer, among which loss of appetite and abdominal distension are the most common. Diarrhea is also reported both at home and abroad, with a high incidence rate, which is easily mistaken for chronic enteritis. Portal hypertension and intestinal dysfunction caused by portal vein and hepatic vein cancer thrombus can cause abdominal distension and increased bowel movements. Abdominal distension can also be caused by ascites.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: fever

Liver cancer patients may sweat and have fever. Most fevers are low to moderate, and a few patients may have high fevers, above 39°C, usually without chills. The fever of liver cancer is mostly cancerous fever, which is caused by the release of pyrogens into the blood circulation after tumor tissue necrosis.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: bleeding tendency

Liver cancer patients often have bleeding gums, subcutaneous ecchymoses and other bleeding tendencies, which are mainly caused by liver damage and abnormal coagulation function. Gastrointestinal bleeding is more common, mainly due to portal hypertension, which leads to esophageal varices.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: lower limb edema

Patients with liver cancer and ascites often have lower limb edema, which can occur at the ankles in mild cases and spread to the entire lower limbs in severe cases. Some patients have severe lower limb edema, with fluid oozing out of the thigh skin. The main reason is that ascites compresses the lower limb veins and cancer thrombus blocks venous return.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: weight loss and fatigue

Liver cancer patients often feel more fatigued than other tumor patients, which is similar to patients with chronic hepatitis. Weight loss is also a common symptom of liver cancer patients, which is due to liver damage and decreased digestion and absorption function. As the disease progresses, the degree of weight loss may worsen, and cachexia may occur in severe cases.

Symptoms of advanced liver cancer: Symptoms of metastasis

The tumor metastasizes to the site where there are corresponding symptoms, 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; cancer embolism to the pulmonary artery or branch can cause pulmonary infarction, which can cause sudden severe dyspnea and chest pain.

Advanced liver cancer care:

1. Since liver cancer consumes a lot of energy in the late stage and the liver itself is an important organ of human metabolism, patients should be guaranteed to have adequate nutrition. The diet for liver cancer is generally high in protein, sugar, vitamins and fat.

2. It is advisable to choose more foods that can "soften and dissipate lumps" and enhance immune function to inhibit the rapid growth of tumors; in the late stage of liver cancer, it is advisable to eat some foods with anti-cancer effects. Some trace elements, that is, inorganic salts, have anti-cancer effects, such as selenium, magnesium, copper, magnesium, iron, etc. It is recommended that liver cancer diet should include more foods containing trace elements with anti-cancer effects, such as mushrooms, asparagus, corn, seaweed, kelp, laver, clams, marine fish, egg yolks, brown rice, beans, whole wheat noodles, nuts, pumpkin, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, animal liver, kidney, ginseng, wolfberry, yam, ganoderma lucidum, etc.

3. Make sure to keep your bowels open, so you should ensure that the fiber content of your food is high in liver cancer patients, and you should have fresh vegetables or fruits at every meal. However, most liver cancer patients have esophageal varices, so to prevent bleeding, you should not eat rough food, and avoid eating hard, thorny, or overly hot food.

4. In the late stage of liver cancer, the body's coagulation function decreases, so you should choose foods that have the effect of replenishing blood and stopping bleeding, and appropriately increase foods containing vitamin K and vitamin C. Vitamin C can improve myocardial function, reduce capillary fragility, and increase the body's resistance. At the same time, patients should try to stay in bed and rest, which is one of the precautions for late stage liver cancer.