What are the late symptoms of liver cancer? 8 late symptoms of liver cancer

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 occur before the symptoms of liver cancer itself. Common ones include: liver cancer and portal vein cancer

7. Paraneoplastic syndrome: The abnormal metabolism of the tumor itself affects the body and causes endocrine or metabolic abnormalities, which is called paraneoplastic syndrome. Hypoglycemia and polycythemia are the most common, while other rare syndromes include hyperlipidemia, hypercalcemia, precocious puberty, gonadotropin secretion syndrome, carcinoid syndrome, etc.

8. Jaundice is a sign of liver cancer. Jaundice is a common sign of mid- to late-stage liver cancer. Diffuse liver cancer and cholangiocarcinoma are most likely to cause jaundice. Jaundice is mostly caused by compression of the bile duct or invasion of the bile duct by cancer, or by compression of the bile duct by enlarged lymph nodes metastasized from the liver portal. In a few cases, the liver cancer tissue grows into the bile duct, and the mass blocks the bile duct, causing obstructive jaundice.