Why does liver cancer cause shoulder pain? Which parts of the body will have abnormalities after liver cancer?

When it comes to liver cancer, the first thing that comes to mind is pain in the liver area, jaundice, abdominal distension, and weight loss. In fact, due to the powerful metabolic function of the liver, the manifestations of liver cancer are diverse and easy to be ignored. If you have repeated dull pain and discomfort in your right shoulder, and it does not get better after appropriate treatment, you should also check your liver for lesions in time to rule out the possibility of hidden liver cancer, especially for people with a history of hepatitis.

Why does liver cancer cause right shoulder pain?

Right shoulder pain may be just a minor problem for many people. They generally think it is caused by pressure during sleep or fatigue during heavy work. They rarely take it seriously and even think it is frozen shoulder, which leads to delayed treatment. When it is found to be liver cancer, the best treatment time has been missed. Why is shoulder pain caused by liver cancer?

The pain of the skin is often at the site of skin injury, but the pain caused by visceral lesions is not as accurate as the skin on the body surface, and often manifests as reflex pain or referred pain, and the pain is not at the site of the lesion. The pain in the right shoulder caused by liver cancer is referred pain, which may be caused by liver cancer compressing the diaphragm of the appendages or the muscle nerves below the lungs.

The liver is located in the upper abdomen. In the early stages of liver cancer, there are no signs, and it is difficult for most people to detect. Even when the tumor grows to more than ten centimeters, some people still lack typical symptoms. When the liver tumor gradually grows, it may compress the nearby diaphragm and the muscle nerves below the lungs. These compressed nerves happen to be the nerves connected to the right shoulder, which will cause right shoulder pain. Therefore, when there is recurring right shoulder pain, after appropriate treatment, the symptoms have not improved, it is necessary to check the liver in time to rule out the existence of lesions.

Be more careful if you have a history of liver disease

Current research suggests that the causes of liver cancer are mainly related to hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, aflatoxin, drinking water pollution, lack of certain trace elements, genetic factors, alcoholism, smoking, staying up late, irregular diet and work and rest, etc. Studies have shown that "the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B is 40 times higher than that of normal people." It is generally believed that during the process of repeated infection of liver cells, the hepatitis B virus will integrate into the genome of liver cells and cause mutations. However, the occurrence of cancer is a multi-factor, multi-stage evolution process, and not all hepatitis B patients will develop liver cancer.

If you have been infected with hepatitis B, but you often drink and smoke, have irregular work and rest, and are depressed, the probability of developing cancer will be further increased. Here, patients with a history of hepatitis should be especially reminded that if you have repeated right shoulder pain, do not take it lightly and "self-diagnose" it as frozen shoulder. You should do alpha-fetoprotein and ultrasound examinations in time, and if necessary, enhanced CT or MR examinations.

In recent years, liver cancer has changed from an "incurable disease" to a "partially curable disease", and the 5-year survival rate has increased from 2.6% to 20.6%. Currently, the treatment of liver cancer emphasizes comprehensive treatment with multiple means, and the proper use of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other treatment methods complement each other and bring out the best in each other.