When cancer develops in your liver, it prevents the organ from performing many vital functions, which can lead to serious health complications. Our cancer experts work with you to determine the most effective treatment plan to address your condition and improve your quality of life.
Schedule an appointment to speak with a member of our cancer care team.
Causes & Risk Factors
The liver filters your blood, removing toxins and converting nutrients into useful solutions such as bile, which helps with digestion. Cancer develops when your liver’s cells undergo DNA mutations that cause them to begin growing out of control, eventually forming a tumor.
Though liver cancer is often metastatic (meaning it spread to the liver from another part of the body), it can also be caused by chronic infections. Factors that may increase the risk of developing liver cancer include the following.
- Cirrhosis: The majority of people with liver cancer already developed cirrhosis, which occurs when damaged liver cells are replaced by scar tissue. Though several factors can cause cirrhosis, most cases develop due to excessive alcohol use or hepatitis.
- Chronic Viral Hepatitis: The hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) commonly cause cirrhosis, which leads to liver cancer. HBV and HCV can spread through childbirth, unprotected sex or sharing contaminated needles. Receiving treatment for these infections can reduce the risk of developing liver cancer.
- Diabetes: The risk of liver cancer is higher for people with type 2 diabetes.
- Heavy Alcohol Use: In the United States, excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of cirrhosis, which has an associated risk of liver cancer.
- Inherited Diseases: A range of metabolic diseases such as hereditary hemochromatosis can contribute to cirrhosis, which can cause cancer.
- Obesity: Because it causes cirrhosis as well as fatty liver disease, an excessively high body weight can put you at greater risk for liver cancer.
- Tobacco Use: Whether you’re currently a smoker or quit smoking years ago, a history of tobacco use increases your risk of developing liver cancer.
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Signs & Symptoms
Although clear signs aren’t always present during the early stages of liver cancer, common symptoms include the following.
- Unexplained weight loss
- Loss of appetite
- Upper abdominal pain
- Pain near the right shoulder blade or in the back
- Nausea and vomiting
- General weakness and fatigue
- Easily bleeding or bruising
- Abdominal swelling
- Yellow discoloration of skin (jaundice)
- White, chalky stools
If you have a greater risk of developing liver cancer or are experiencing symptoms of the disease, you should consider getting screened. Speak with your doctor or schedule an appointment with an expert at Bayhealth.
How We Diagnose Liver Cancer
Bayhealth cancer experts use the following procedures to diagnose liver cancer.
- Physical Exam: Before any other tests, your doctor will perform a physical examination, checking your body for lumps or swelling in the area of your liver. They will also look for signs of jaundice, which includes yellowing of the skin and eyes.
- Blood Test: A blood test may reveal abnormalities such as hepatitis or alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), which is often found in the blood of individuals with liver cancer.
- Computerized Tomography (CT): Certified experts use computer-processed X-rays to generate a scan of your body in “slices” to create highly accurate images.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): A combination of a magnetic field and radio waves creates three-dimensional images of specific areas of your body to determine if disease or physical abnormalities are present.
- Ultrasound: High-energy sound waves are bounced off your internal tissues and organs, creating a detailed image (sonogram) of your chest.
- Biopsy: Although imaging tests are often conclusive enough to diagnose liver cancer, biopsies are sometimes necessary. During this procedure, a sample of tissue is extracted from the liver to be examined in a pathology lab.
Treatment Options
Our multidisciplinary team works collaboratively to outline a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. Experts from a range of specialties (such as surgery, medical and radiation oncology, radiology and pathology) will discuss your condition and determine the best plan of action. Factors we consider when developing your treatment plan include the stage and location of the cancer and your personal medical history.
Treatments for liver cancer include the following.
Medical Therapies
Our board-certified oncologists prescribe your medical therapy, and our highly trained nursing staff administers that therapy intravenously, orally or through injection. Among the medical treatments we provide are the following.
- Targeted Drug Therapy: We administer a combination of substances such as
antibodies and growth inhibitors to address your cancer. - Chemotherapy: Our highly trained nurses administer chemical drug therapy over a
period of several days or weeks to kill liver cancer or slow it down. - Immunotherapy: This novel drug therapy boosts your immune system by empowering
your cells to more effectively fight cancer.
Radiation Therapy
Our team of board-certified radiation oncologists may use external beam radiation in combination with other treatments to address your cancer. Employing sophisticated technology, our therapists concentrate high-energy beams of radiation on the precise parts of your body affected by disease. This safe and accurate procedure may be administered routinely over a period of days or weeks.
Surgical Approaches
If your liver cancer has reached an advanced stage, surgical resection may become necessary, during which our surgeons remove the parts of the liver affected by disease.
Learn more about treatment options for cancer.
Support Services
Before, during and after your cancer treatments, our experts remain dedicated to improving your quality of life. Our care team supports you in establishing healthy routines that help you stay in control of your daily symptoms. We also host support groups that provide patients and families opportunities to connect and share their experiences — because a strong network of support can help to make the realities of cancer more manageable.
- Cancer Support Community: A statewide non-profit organization, the Cancer Support Community is dedicated to helping people manage the emotional aspects of their cancer journey. Learn more about the Cancer Support Community.
Explore our classes, events and support groups.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that test cutting-edge drugs, procedures and technologies with the purpose of establishing new or better ways of treating cancer. The skilled nurses in our Clinical Research Program can help you find clinical trial options for your specific cancer.
Speak with a Bayhealth expert about cancer treatment options.