What symptoms will appear when liver cancer spreads? What are the effects of liver cancer metastasis?

Liver cancer is a very common malignant tumor disease. Once liver cancer occurs, it will have a great impact and threat to the patient's health and even the patient's life safety. Even if liver cancer is controlled and cured through treatment in the early stage, it may later metastasize to other parts of the body, making it difficult to prevent.

Symptoms of liver cancer spreading

1. Symptoms of metastatic lesions

Metastatic symptoms are common symptoms of advanced liver cancer and are also one of the causes of death. Liver cancer is a malignant tumor. When corresponding symptoms appear in the tumor metastasis site, they sometimes become the initial symptoms of liver cancer. 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; blocking the inferior vena cava can cause severe edema of the lower limbs and even a drop in blood pressure; blocking the hepatic vein can cause Budd-Chiari syndrome.

2. Liver cancer pain

You should pay more attention to the symptoms of liver cancer pain, because this symptom is also a symptom that many patients are prone to. Experts say that it is caused by the rapid growth of cancer cells, which tightens the liver capsule. The tumor in the body will invade the diaphragm, and the pain will radiate to the right shoulder or right back. If there is severe abdominal pain and peritoneal irritation, this symptom indicates that the cancer nodule is bleeding under the capsule or rupturing into the abdominal cavity.

3. Digestive tract symptoms

Symptoms include decreased appetite, upper abdominal fullness after meals, bloating, indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, etc., among which decreased appetite and abdominal distension are the most common. In the late stage of liver cancer, there will be similar and obvious manifestations. Diarrhea is also a common digestive tract symptom of liver cancer. It has been reported both at home and abroad. The incidence is high and it is easy to be mistaken for chronic enteritis. Portal hypertension and intestinal dysfunction caused by portal vein or hepatic vein cancer thrombus can cause abdominal distension and increased bowel movements. Abdominal distension can also be caused by ascites.

What are the effects of liver cancer spread?

Liver cancer cells grow very actively and are highly invasive. They easily invade the capsule and blood vessels, causing local spread and blood-borne metastasis, which affects prognosis. The early metastasis of liver cancer and metastasis problems have a direct impact on prognosis. The metastasis of liver cancer to extrahepatic organs through the blood can occur in the early stages of liver cancer.

When liver cancer metastasizes, it may cause upper gastrointestinal bleeding, which is a cause of death from primary liver cancer, accounting for 15% of the total mortality rate. Due to portal hypertension caused by liver cirrhosis or portal vein or hepatic vein cancer thrombosis, esophageal varicose vein rupture or gastric fundus varicose vein rupture may cause vomiting blood or black stool, and may also cause extensive bleeding due to gastrointestinal mucosal erosion and ulcer coagulation function.

In addition, the cancerous nodules may rupture and bleed. About 10% of primary liver cancers may cause cancerous nodules to rupture. Cancerous tissue may rupture spontaneously or due to external impact due to necrosis and softening. If the rupture and bleeding are limited to the membrane, it may cause acute pain and rapid enlargement of the liver; it may also rupture into the abdominal cavity to cause acute pain and peritoneal irritation. In severe cases, it may cause hemorrhagic shock and death. In mild cases, the bleeding stops after a few days and bloody ascites appears.

There are many effects and hazards of liver cancer metastasis, and the threat to the patient's life and health is self-evident. Therefore, once liver cancer metastasis is discovered, it should be reported to the doctor in time, and efforts should be made to control the disease to prevent it from further deteriorating.