Liver Cancer- More Conditions Symptoms

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.

Symptoms of Liver Cancer

The doctor may also want to look at the liver with an instrument called a laparoscope, which is a small tube-shaped instrument with a light on the end. For this test, the patient is given an anesthetic and a small cut is made in the abdomen so that the laparoscope can be inserted. The doctor may also take a small piece of tissue (biopsy specimen) during the laparoscopy and look at it under the microscope to see if there are any cancer cells.

Another test, called an angiography, can help a doctor tell whether the cancer is primary liver cancer or cancer that has spread from another part of the body. This test is usually done in the hospital. During this examination, a tube (catheter) is inserted into the main blood vessel that takes blood to the liver. Dye is then injected through the tube so that the blood vessels in the liver can be seen on an x-ray.


Liver cancer does not commonly metastasize, but when it does, it most commonly metastasizes to the lungs. In these patients shortness of breath and cough may develop.


Patients with cirrhosis who are at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma are sometimes screened with ultrasounds of the liver. A blood test used to help follow the course of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is the AFP.

Secondary liver cancer is term for cancer that originates in another organ, such as the colon, stomach, pancreas and breast and then spreads to the liver. Because secondary cancer is present in at least two organs, the treatment possibilities are more limited than for primary liver cancer. As the cancer grows, pain may develop in the upper abdomen on the right side and may extend into the back and shoulder. With advanced disease, the signs of liver failure appear, which include abdominal swelling and a feeling of fullness or bloating and jaundice, a condition in which the skin and the whites of the eyes become yellow and the urine becomes dark.

Symptoms of liver cancer in dogs

The most common symptom is poor or loss of appetite. Anorexia (poor appetite) often leads to a weight loss and improper metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins further complicates an already complex situation. Poor appetite also causes anemia. Anemia can also be caused by disease in liver cells.

Increase in urination accompanied by excessive drinking of water is usually confused as being related to other diseases like Diabetes and kidney diseases but is one of the important indications of prevalence of liver cancer.

A tumor prevents the secretion of normal bilary pigments into the intestines. This leads to light colored feces.