The reason why liver cancer is well known to the Chinese is not only its high incidence rate, but also that many famous people died of liver cancer, such as Fu Biao, Luo Wen and Shen Dianxia.
These celebrities are in good financial condition and will make the best use of high-quality medical resources at home and abroad when they get sick, but they still cannot save their lives. The reason behind this is that liver cancer is often found at an advanced stage.
Two Features of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
First, the symptoms of early liver cancer are not obvious.
Many organs of the human body have a magical function, as long as a part of the organs can function. For example, the kidney, the human body only needs 1/4 kidneys to operate. Therefore, some people will sell kidneys for various reasons.
The same is true of the liver. A healthy liver only needs about 1/4 to make the human body work normally. Therefore, in the early stage of liver cancer, the liver function is still sound, and the human body may not show symptoms of liver function decline.
I have seen many patients, and it was not until the tumor was so large that the stomach was propped up that it was found to be advanced liver cancer. Even then, the patient’s liver function may still be normal.
Second, liver cancer is easy to metastasize.
The most common metastasis of liver cancer is in the liver, for example, the cancer cells in the left half of the liver have metastasized to the right half of the liver. It is also possible that there are tumors in many parts of the liver on both sides, which is called multiple.
In addition, tumors may also block blood vessels. For example, the liver has a very important blood vessel called the portal vein. The tumor blocking the portal vein is called portal vein tumor thrombus, which often occurs in advanced liver cancer. Fu Biao was a tumor thrombus in the portal vein in those days. Although he tried the most thorough liver transplantation, he quickly relapsed.
Can liver cancer be inherited?
Liver cancer is not a hereditary disease in the common sense. Hereditary disease refers to diseases caused by gene mutation or chromosome aberration, but liver cancer does have family aggregation.
Family aggregation is usually seen in mothers suffering from hepatitis B, giving birth to the hepatitis B virus to the child, so that the child also suffers from hepatitis B. However, under the current medical level, the vertical transmission of hepatitis B caused by childbirth can be well controlled, and there is no need to worry too much. Liver cancer itself is not hereditary.
If the mother is a carrier of hepatitis B, full-term newborns must be injected with hepatitis B immunoglobulin in time and vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine in the whole process (1 injection for 0, 1 and 6 months each, totaling 3 injections). For more precautions, please read < < How do pregnant women with hepatitis B give birth to a healthy baby? > >.
Is hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer what?
Everyone should have heard that hepatitis B/hepatitis C-liver cirrhosis-liver cancer, this trilogy is experienced by most liver cancer patients.
The duration of the development of this trilogy is uncertain and cannot be generalized. It depends on the individual differences of patients, living habits, active treatment and other factors.
Some people have very mild liver cirrhosis, but they have already developed a large liver cancer. However, in some people, liver cirrhosis is already very serious, but liver cells have not developed canceration.
In fact, as long as hepatitis B/C patients are well controlled, a considerable proportion will not suffer from liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Therefore, hepatitis patients do not need to abandon themselves or take it seriously. They should try their best to stop drinking and combine work and rest.
Who are the high-risk groups?
建议下面几类人群, 每隔 6 个月, 做一次腹部 B 超检查 + 血清Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) examination.Include:
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Patients with chronic hepatitis B and C and hepatitis virus carriers;
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Patients clinically diagnosed as liver cirrhosis;
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Some people in the family have had liver cancer.
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Men over 40 years of age or women over 50 years of age;
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People who drink alcohol for a long time;
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Diabetes patients.
Among them, the first three categories of people suggest to have abdominal B-ultrasound examination + serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) examination every 6 months. The latter three groups of people are recommended to attend physical examination in the hospital every year.