Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment of Liver Cancer

Having a grandparent, parent, sister, brother, child, or partner who has a diagnoses of liver cancer can be devastating. Knowing everything you can about the disease is key to making wise choices and staying on the right track with recovery. Usually when someone is diagnosed with liver cancer it has spread from another area of the body such as the stomach, breast, or lung. Let us discuss and go through the signs, symptoms, and treatment options for someone with liver cancer.

The signs and symptoms of liver cancer can be hard to miss and vary person to person. Make sure that if you think you or a loved on has this disease you seek medical attention as soon as possible. No guide will replace your doctor's advice.

Signs of Liver Cancer

- Weight Loss

- Unexplained Fevers

- Abdominal Pain

- Sudden appearance of abdominal fluid

- Unexplained Swelling

- Jaundice

- Muscle Wasting

- Enlarged liver, determined during physical examination

Just knowing the signs and symptoms does not stop you from getting liver cancer. There is nothing that can stop a person from developing the disease. However, knowing your risk factors can help you and your doctor catch the problem early. There are different treatment options available for liver cancer patients. Most of these treatments have a high success rate if the cancer is caught early enough. There are a few ways to treat the disease and surgery does not have to be the only option.

Treatment Options for those Diagnosed with Liver Cancer

- Surgery; liver resection, transplantation, or removal of the cancer.

- Ablation Techniques

- Proton Beam Therapy

- Chemotherapy

- Trans-Arterial Chemoembolization

These treatment options vary person to person. For example if you already have cirrhosis of the liver and are diagnosed with liver cancer then liver resection surgery is not going to be an option for you, but liver transplantation surgery could work wonders. Make sure to talk with your doctor to decide which treatment will work best with your specific circumstances. The only way to know if the treatments are working is to see if the patient is feeling better and the cancer cells are going into remission. Each treatment is dictated by the stage of cancer, damage already done to the liver, and overall condition of each individual patient.