The dangers of liver cancer

Health & Life Newspaper quoted Dr. Nguyen Xuan Tuan as saying that early stage liver cancer is the appearance of a tumor in the liver, cancer cells have not invaded the lymph nodes and metastasized to distant organs. This stage often has no symptoms, but only non-specific signs such as fatigue, yellow urine, and heaviness in the liver area. Symptoms of the disease are unclear, easily confused with other diseases, so it is difficult to detect.

If not treated promptly, cancer will progress to a more severe stage, accompanied by serious symptoms such as itching, jaundice, frequent dark urine, pale stools, unusual bleeding in the gums or bruises under the skin, unexplained rapid weight loss, increasing frequency and severity of right hypochondrium pain, enlarged liver, ascites. However, there are also cases where patients have no symptoms even though liver cancer is in the late stages.

Many people under 40 years old have fatty liver disease, hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer. The main cause is unhealthy living habits such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol, unhealthy diet, environmental pollution, staying up late, lack of exercise... Unscientific lifestyle over a long period of time increases pressure on the liver, causing liver damage and many serious complications.

Warning signs of early stage liver cancer

Symptoms of early stage liver cancer are often confused with common diseases. Therefore, many people often ignore medical examination, causing the disease to progress more seriously. Below are warning signs of early stage liver cancer that you should know for early detection and treatment.

Abnormal weight changes

An article on the Medlatec General Hospital website with medical consultation from Dr. Dinh Van Chinh said that unusual weight loss despite not following a diet or exercising to lose weight is one of the warning signs of many diseases, including early stage liver cancer.

Weight loss becomes more severe as the disease progresses because the liver's metabolic function is affected by cancer cells. Patients often lose about 5% of their body weight within 1 to 3 months, along with other symptoms such as fatigue, emaciation, and exhaustion.

Jaundice

According to Dr. Nguyen Xuan Tuan, jaundice and yellow eyes are the most prominent and easily recognizable signs of early stage liver cancer. Liver cancer patients have impaired liver function, which limits the processing of bilirubin, leading to increased bilirubin levels in the blood, causing yellow skin and eyes.

However, not all liver cancer patients experience jaundice. This phenomenon often occurs because the tumor is located in a position that causes obstruction of the common bile duct or shows signs of invading this organ, causing the bile secretion process to be interrupted.

Itchy skin

In addition to common dermatological problems, a rare cause of itchy skin is bile salts. Blocked bile ducts in people with liver cancer can also cause bile to accumulate in the skin. Therefore, you should also see a doctor if you experience severe, persistent itching with no known cause.

Loss of appetite, "messy" stomach

A diseased liver affects digestion and can cause you to lose your appetite, or you may experience problems similar to those with digestive disorders such as nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain.

Right abdominal mass

Liver cancer usually appears as a hard lump, located on the right side and just below the rib cage, which can be painful. It is often only noticed in the later stages of the disease.

One thing that is not well understood is that it can also cause pain in the right shoulder, possibly due to irritation of the nerves below the diaphragm, which connect to the nerves in the shoulder.

Yellow urine

The condition of yellow and dark urine is not only found in people with liver cancer but can also occur in many other cases such as side effects of drugs or diet. However, in those cases, the dark urine color only occurs for a short time. If this condition persists, it may be due to high levels of bilirubin in the blood when there is a tumor in the liver.

Itchy or acne-prone skin

Itching all over the body often occurs when the bile duct is blocked or bile stagnates due to acid affecting the circulatory system. This is also a common sign in patients with chronic cirrhosis but can also be a sign of early-stage cancer due to liver dysfunction.

In addition to the symptoms of itching all over the body, acne and pustules appear in some areas of the face, back, buttocks, etc. Acne is a sign of impaired liver function, affecting the ability to detoxify and when toxins accumulate in the blood, it causes acne on the skin.

The above are warning signs of early stage liver cancer. It can be seen that liver cancer often develops silently and its symptoms are often easily confused with other diseases. Therefore, to avoid missing the best treatment time, patients should immediately go to a reputable medical facility for examination if there are any unusual signs.