What Is Hepatic Cancer?

Hepatic cancer is another name for liver cancer. It begins in the cells of the liver.

Hepatic cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world. In the United States however, most cases of hepatic cancer don't start in the liver. It begins in other areas or organs and "migrates" to the liver. This process is called "metastasis" by doctors.

The cause of most cases of hepatic cancer is unknown, but some cases appear to be connected other liver problems, such as hepatitis.   

There are four different types of hepatic cancer that originate in the liver itself (known as primary liver cancer).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (often abbreviated HCC) is the kind that happens most often to both children and adults. It begins with the hepatocytes, which are the main type of liver cell.

Cholangiocarcinoma is another type. It starts in the small tube-like bile ducts within the liver. Another name for this type of hepatic cancer is bile duct cancer.

Hepatoblastoma is rare. It strikes children under 4 years of age. Happily, most of the time it can be treated successfully.

Angiosarcoma or hemangiosarcoma are rare types of cancers that originate in the blood vessels of the liver.

Hepatic cancer symptoms

As with most types of cancer, there are usually no symptoms on hepatic cancer in the early stages. When the disease progresses, the following symptoms begin to present:

• fatigue and a general feeling of weakness
• jaundice, or yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes
• loss of appetite
• nausea and vomiting
• the liver becomes enlarged
• unexplained or unexpected weight loss
• upper abdomen pain, possibly accompanied by abdominal swelling

Treatment

Treatment options depend on the stage the cancer has reached. The patient's age and overall health are also important.

The first goal of treatment is to eliminate the cancer completely. If this can't be done, the goal becomes limiting its growth and keeping it from spreading.

The goal of any treatment is to eliminate the cancer completely. When that isn't possible, the focus may be on preventing the tumor from growing or spreading. Unfortunately, in certain cases, a cure isn't possible. The medical team will try to relieve the patient's symptoms and any discomfort or pain they cause.

When treatment is appropriate, the following possibilities are available.

Surgery - The idea here is to remove the part of the liver that has cancer. This is appropriate if the tumor is small, cancer cells haven't spread to other tissues or organs, and liver function is still good.

This is called a partial hepatectomy to remove the liver cancer and a small portion of healthy tissue that surrounds it if your tumor is small and your liver function is good.

Liver transplant - Your liver is removed and replaced with a healthy liver from a donor. We have a several separate articles. Click on liver transplant.

Freezing or heating cancer cells - Technology is now available to target cancer cells and destroy them with either extreme heat or cold.

Alcohol injection - The doctor shoots pure alcohol directly into tumor, which may dry out the cancer cells and eventually kill them.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy - With chemotherapy, powerful drugs are injected into the liver to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. Both of these types of treatment may have side effects.

Targeted drug therapy - Certain drugs are designed to limit the tumor's ability to generate blood vessels. This is a relatively new type of treatment and more research is needed to understand and improve it.

There are different stages of hepatic cancer. For more information, click on liver cancer stages. 

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