Liver Cancer Awareness Month

   According of the department of health’s website (www.doh.gov.ph), September is Liver Cancer Month Awareness.

   Here is the briefing of the signs and symptoms of liver cancer (data from the University of Southern California, San Francisco website).

   Signs and symptoms, Liver Cancer is a disease involving uncontrolled growth of cells with in the liver. Cancer in the liver maybe primary or secondary liver cancer.

   *Primary cancer arises within the liver and in it’s early stages exists only within the liver. People who have hepatitis B or C, viral infections ot the liver, or cirrhosis of the liver are more likely than other people to develop primary liver cancer. At the early stage primary liver cancer may cause loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, fatique and weakness.

   *Secondary liver cancer is term for cancer that originates in another organ, such as the colons, stomach, pancreas and breast and then spread to the liver. Because secondary cancer 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 the shoulder.

   With advanced disease, the signs of liver failure appear, which fullness or bloating and jaundice, a condition in which the skin and the whites of the eyes become yellow and the urine becomes dark.