Liver cancer – causes, symptoms, treatment

Primary cancer of the liver, also called hepatocellular carcinoma, is the third most common cause of cancer death. We owe it mainly to viruses.

The liver is one of the largest and most important organs. It filters the blood, cleanses the body of toxins, produces bile, stores vitamins, regulates the activity of various chemicals and hormones, and acts as an energy generator. Due to its function, it is constantly exposed to damage, e.g. for poisoning and viral infections that can develop in it for many years, without any ailments or causing uncharacteristic symptoms (fatigue, lethargy, depression, gastric disorders). – The liver has a great ability to regenerate, which is why the disease process lasts for years – explains Prof. Waldemar Halota, head of the Department and Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology, UMK Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz.

It doesn’t hurt, but it becomes fibrous

Chronic hepatitis B infection (Hepatitis B Virus, abbreviated as HBV) or C (Hepatitis C Virusor HCV for short) initially causes inflammation. Over time, healthy cells become damaged and scar tissue forms that impair the function of this organ. After many years, people with chronic HBV or HCV infection develop fibrosis, cirrhosis, and then liver cancer.

The liver does not hurt because it is not innervated. And if the pain occurs, it means that it has increased significantly and begins to put pressure on the innervated serosa around it, the so-called liver pouch. This happens sometimes in acute or chronic viral hepatitis and in the first stage of cirrhosis. Pain then appears on the right side of the epigastrium, where this organ, usually weighing about 1,5 kg, is located.

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Early symptoms of cirrhosis, if any, may be reddening of the hands, enlargement of the parotid glands, or deformation of the fingers and toenails. Sometimes small red spots appear on the back. With significant liver damage, you may feel permanent fatigue, lose your appetite, have stomach pains and nausea. In some patients ascites, enlarged spleen, reduction of ovaries in women, and testes in men.

According to statistics, for 80 percent. cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatocellular carcinomaHCC for short) corresponds to chronic hepatitis caused by viral infections. The remaining 20 percent. is the effect of alcohol abuse, the action of the so-called aflotoxins (toxins produced by mold fungi that grow in nuts, seeds and legumes), disorders related to excessive iron storage in the body, obesity and diabetes.

A bomb with a delayed ignition

According to various sources, from 300 to 600 thousand people suffer from chronic hepatitis B (hepatitis B). Poles. Not everyone has been diagnosed with the infection, so not all of them are covered by specialist medical care, and not undergoing treatment, are a potential source of infection for others. They’re like a flame retardant bomb, especially since HBV is very contagious, a hundred times more contagious than HIV. It can become infected even with slight contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person.

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Since the 90s, the frequency of HBV infections in Poland has clearly decreased, approximately 1500 cases are detected annually. This is related to a significant improvement in hygiene in health care institutions, and above all, the introduction of compulsory vaccinations against hepatitis B for all newborns, health care workers and uniformed services.

Let’s look at their hands

You cannot be vaccinated against hepatitis C. Approximately 730 thousand people in Poland suffer from them. people, of which only 2 percent. of them, the disease was diagnosed by accident, mainly during pre-surgery tests.

– There is no vaccine, we are doomed to follow the procedures by health care workers – says prof. Jacek Juszczyk, head of the Department and Clinic of Infectious Diseases at the Medical University of Poznań. Speaking of procedures, prof. Juszczyk primarily means using disposable gloves and washing hands – before and after putting them on.

HCV infection, as in the case of HBV, can occur during a stay in hospital, dentist, hairdresser, beautician, manicurist, pedicurist, piercing and tattooing of the body, and at home, e.g. when using contaminated nail scissors, toothbrushes teeth or razors.

During 20-30 years of HCV infection, as a result of systematic liver damage, at least 20-30% patients with chronic hepatitis C develop cirrhosis, and 5% of them develop hepatocellular carcinoma. There are also many other serious complications, such as ascites, esophageal varices, jaundice, coagulation disorders, including hepatic coma.

A simple, inexpensive test

The basic diagnostic tool in the case of both types of viral hepatitis are tests for the presence of anti-HBV and anti-HCV antibodies. They can be performed in almost any analytical laboratory. They can be done for free only on the basis of a referral – from a general practitioner (HBV test) or a specialist (HCV).

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