Liver Cancer

Topics

• What is Liver Cancer?
• What Causes Liver Cancer?
• Symptoms of Liver Cancer
• How is Liver Cancer Diagnosed?
• What is the Treatment for Liver Cancer?
• Outlook for Patients with Liver Cancer
• Suggested Articles

What Causes Liver Cancer?

Factors that increase the risk for developing primary liver cancer are as follows:

• Cirrhosis (scarring of the liver)
• Chronic Infection with hepatitis B or hepatitis C (also one of the major causes of cirrhosis in the United States)
• Diabetes
• Excessive alcohol consumption (also one of the major causes of cirrhosis in the United States)
• Obesity
• Gender (liver cancer occurs twice as often in men than in women)
• Age (liver cancer affects mostly older adults in North America, Australia and Europe. However, in developing countries such as Africa and Asia, liver cancer is mostly diagnosed in younger individuals between 20 and 50 years of age)
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (an accumulation of fat in the liver).
• Inherited liver diseases (Wilson’s Disease, autoimmune hepatitis and hemochromatosis increase the risk of liver cancer)
• Anabolic steroids (male hormones used by some athletes to enhance performance and strength)
• Aflatoxins (rare in the United States and Europe, aflatoxins are poisons that are produced by a mold that contaminates peanuts, grains, beans, soybeans, groundnuts, corn and rice when they are not stored properly)
• Arsenic (well water that is contaminated with arsenic)

Having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does not mean that a person will get cancer. And many people who get the disease don't have any known risk factors.

What is Liver Cancer? Symptoms of Liver Cancer