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What is Liver Cancer?

There are two main kinds of liver cancer. Heptoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Heptoma is cancer of the hepatocytes. (The main functioning liver cell). Hepatoma is primary liver cancer. Hepatoma usually grows in the liver as a ball-like tumor, invading the normal tissue surrounding it. A history of infection with the hepatitis B virus puts individuals at risk of developing heptoma.

Cancer of the bile duct cells is called cholangiocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma originates in the bile ducts and is often caused by infestation with the liver fluke Clonorchis (a parasite). The cancer grows along the bile ducts in sheets or lines, and is hard to find on X-ray studies.

Most cases of liver cancer are actually cancers that started in another organ. This is called metastases. Because of its very high blood flow and many biological functions, the liver is one of the most common places for metastases to grow. Tumors that originally arise in the colon, pancreas, stomach, lung or breast can spread to the liver.

Liver cancer is much more prevalent in many of the developing countries than in the industrialized world. Its incidence is highest in subSaharan Africa, China, southern Asia, and Japan. Japan is the exception of the industrialized countries. China accounts for about 45% of the world's cases.

What Causes or Increases Risk for Liver Cancer?

Once cause of liver cancer is exposure to vinyl chloride. Other causes of liver cancer are unknown. However certain risk factors have been identified. The risk factors are: Chronic Hepatitis, Cirrhosis of the liver and liver flukes (parasites).

What is Vinyl Chloride?

Vinyl chloride is a toxic chemical compound frequently used in manufacturing. It is a combustible, colorless gas. Vinyl chloride is also known as chloroethene, chloroethylene, and ethylene monochloride. A known human carcinogen, vinyl chloride can cause liver cancer, brain cancer, angiosarcoma, and other health problems in people who are exposed to it.

People are exposed to vinyl chloride by either breathing in air containing vinyl chloride or consuming water contaminated with it.

What are the symptoms of Liver Cancer?

A very early cancer will have little or no symptoms. It will have little or no symptoms because it is too small to cause any. As the cancer enlarges, it will have symptoms. The common symptoms are:

• Pain in the right upper abdominal area. Pain is caused by stretching of the liver's capsule.
• Weight Loss and loss of appetite.
• Breast swelling in males
• Blood clotting problems leading to intestinal bleeding and bruises on the skin.
• Jaundice

Stages of adult primary liver cancer :

Once adult primary liver cancer is found, more tests will be done to find out if the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body (staging). The following stages are used for adult primary liver cancer:

Localized unrespectable:

Cancer is found only in one part of the liver, but the cancer cannot be totally removed.

Advanced:

Cancer has spread through much of the liver or to other parts of the body, name secondary cancer.

Recurrent:

Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been operated. It may come back in the liver or in another part of the body.

How adult primary liver cancer is treated

There are treatments for all patients with adult primary liver cancer. Many kinds of treatment are used:

1-surgery (taking out the cancer in an operation)
2-radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells)
3-chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells)

Surgery may be used to take out the cancer or to replace the liver. Resection of the liver takes out the part of the liver where the cancer is found. A liver transplant is the removal of the entire liver and replacement with a healthy liver donated from someone else. Very few patients with liver cancer are eligible for this procedure and remember the risk is quite high. After effects and rejection are still in the studies.

Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external-beam radiation therapy) or from putting materials that contain radiation through thin plastic tubes (internal radiation therapy) in the area where the cancer cells are found. Drugs may be given with the radiation therapy to make the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation (radiosensitization).

Radiation may also be given by attaching radioactive substances to antibodies (radiolabeled antibodies) that search out certain cells in the liver. Antibodies are made by the body to fight germs and other harmful things; each antibody fights specific cells. The side effects can be very drastic but could be controlled by acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy for liver cancer is usually put into the body by inserting a needle into a vein or artery. This type of chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body, and can kill cancer cells outside the liver. In another type of chemotherapy called regional chemotherapy, a small pump containing drugs is placed in the body. The pump puts drugs directly into the blood vessels that go to the tumor.

Chemoembolization of the hepatic artery involves blocking the hepatic artery (the major artery that supplies blood to the liver) and then injecting chemotherapy drugs between the blockage and the liver, using the liver's arteries to deliver the chemotherapy throughout the liver. There side effects is very drastic such as total lost of hair, become very tire and dry up etc. This could well be reduce and normalise with Chinese Master's acupuncture and herbal medicine.

If a doctor removes all the cancer that can be seen at the time of the operation, the patient may be given chemotherapy after surgery to kill any remaining cells. Chemotherapy that is given after surgery to remove the cancer is called adjuvant chemotherapy.

Hyperthermia (warming the body to kill cancer cells) and biological therapy (using the body's immune system to fight cancer) are being tested in clinical trials.

Hyperthermia therapy is the use of a special machine to heat the body for a certain period of time to kill cancer cells. Because cancer cells are often more sensitive to heat than normal cells, the cancer cells die and the tumor shrinks.

ADVANCED ADULT PRIMARY LIVER CANCER

Treatment of advanced adult primary liver cancer depends on what treatment a patient has already received, the part of the body where the cancer has come back, whether the liver has cirrhosis, and other factors.

RECURRENT ADULT PRIMARY LIVER CANCER

Treatment of recurrent adult primary liver cancer depends on what treatment a patient has already received, the part of the body where the cancer has come back, whether the liver has cirrhosis, and other factors. Conclusion our rates of treating liver cancer have reach a remarkable lever until not many western universities can belief.

HEPATOCIRRHOSIS

Hepatocirrhosis(HC) is a chronic disease which affects the entire body. Its pathological features include degeneration, necrosis and regeneration of the hepatic cells; proliferation of hepatic fibrous tissue, and disturbance of the normal hipatic structure which lead to deformation and cirrhosis of the liver. Than the term HEPATOCIRRHOSIS is form.

Alcoholic liver disease

What is alcoholic liver disease?

Over consumption

Some genetically inherited susceptibility to the harmful effects of alcohol.
Women are also believed to be more sensitive to the harmful effects of alcohol than men.
Daily drinking, and drinking outside meal times is more harmful than only drinking at weekends.
The more you drink the greater your risk of developing ALD.

ALD progress

Minimal change, or fatty liver: heavy drinkers often develop fatty change in the liver. This is not linked to deterioration in liver function, but abnormalities may be seen in some of the liver blood tests . Fatty liver is reversible with avoiding alcohol and some herbal medicine, but it is the first stage in the progression to cirrhosis.

Alcoholic hepatitis: the effects of this condition can be mild but may also be life threatening. The blood test will almost always be abnormal, and the patient may develop jaundice. As with fatty liver, avoiding alcohol and some herbal medicine can reverse the effects, but those who continue to drink heavily have a high risk of developing cirrhosis.

Cirrhosis: this is the final, irreversible stage of ALD and is characterised by scarring of the liver and development of liver nodules. It severely affects liver function and reduces life expectancy. The blood test are usually abnormal, there may be jaundice (yellow colouring of the eyes and skin) and sometimes bruising or bleeding caused by abnormalities of the blood clotting system. Complications of so-called 'decompensated' cirrhosis may develop.

Symptoms

Only in the more advanced stages of decompensated ALD (severe alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis) will the sufferer present with more specific liver-related symptoms such as jaundice, ascites (fluid collecting in the abdomen, causing distension), haematemesis (vomiting of blood) or encephalopathy (confusion, reduced level of awareness causing coma). These are signs of severe liver damage and require urgent medical treatment.

Diagnosed

Liver biopsy is the most accurate test to determine the stage of ALD present and to ensure alcohol is the cause of the liver disease. Research has shown that in up to 20 per cent of heavy drinkers with abnormal LFTs an alternate cause of liver disease is found on investigation. Liver biopsies are performed under local anaesthetic, and provide a tiny sample of the liver for analysis under the microscope.

The above investigations will rule out whether the symptoms are caused by any of the following:
viral hepatitis, including hepatitis B and C.
haemochromatosis (an inherited disorder of iron metabolism).
Wilson's disease (an inherited disorder of copper metabolism).
autoimmune hepatitis (a liver disorder caused by the immune system attacking the liver).

How is ALD treated?

Alcoholic hepatitis
This will depend on the severity of the alcoholic hepatitis. But in acute severe alcoholic hepatitis (characterised by jaundice, easy bruising, abnormal blood tests and sometimes the presence of ascites) It may takes as long as 8 weeks to 25 weeks.

Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis of the liver can be 'compensated' or 'decompensated'. Compensation implies cirrhosis without complications.
The complications that may develop include bleeding from varices (abnormal veins that form in the gullet), ascites (accumulation of fluid in the abdomen), jaundice and encephalopathy (confusion, reduction in conscious level and coma).

Liver Cancer Herbs Treatment

Liver Cancer Treatment Centre

Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) is a cancer arising from the liver. It is also known as primary liver cancer or hepatoma. 

Herbal Treatment Liver Cancer Acupuncture

Adult primary liver cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the liver.

Acupuncture Herbal For Liver Cancer

Primary liver cancer is cancer that forms in the tissues of the liver. Secondary liver cancer is cancer that spreads to the liver from another part of the body.

Liver Cancer Herbal Medicine

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. It lies under the right ribs, just beneath the right lung and diaphragm (the membrane below the lungs that moves up and down as you breathe).

Therapy Treatment For Liver Cancer

Liver cancer also occurs as metastatic cancer, which happens when tumors from other parts of the body spread (metastasize) to the liver. In the United States, most cancer found in the liver spread there after originating elsewhere.