Hepatobiliary Cancer
Liver cancer consists of malignant hepatic tumours (growths) in or on the liver. The most common type of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (or hepatoma or HCC), and it tends to affect males more than females.
The liver continuously filters blood that circulates through the body, converting nutrients and drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into ready-to-use chemicals. The liver can be affected by primary liver cancer, which arises in the liver, or by cancer which forms in other parts of the body and then spreads to the liver.
Symptoms Of Hepatobillary Cancer
- Nausea & Vomiting
- Abdominal bloating
- Weakness & fatigue
- Abdominal swelling.
- General weakness and fatigue.
- Yellow discoloration of your skin and the whites of your eyes
- White, chalky stools.
Risk Factors of Hepatobiliary Cancer
- Chronic infection with HBV or HCV
- Obesity can increase the risk for hepatocellularcarcinoma
- Diabetes.
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
- Excessive alcohol consumption.
- Exposure to Aflatoxins
Treatment
The treatment for primary liver cancer patients depends on the stage of the disease as well as the person's age, overall health and personal preferences. Liver cancer treatment options may include:
- Targeted Therapy: It works by interfering with a tumor’s ability to generate new blood vessels. They have been shown to slow or stop advanced hepatocellular carcinoma from progressing for a few months longer than with no treatment
- Injecting Chemotherapy: Injecting chemotherapy drugs into the liver or Chemoembolization is a type of chemotherapy treatment that supplies strong anti-cancer drugs directly to the liver. During the procedure, chemotherapy drugs are injected into the hepatic artery the artery from which liver cancers derive their blood supply and then the artery is blocked. This serves to cut blood flow to the cancer cells and to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the cancer cells.
- Radiation Therapy: It uses high-powered energy beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. During radiation therapy, the patient lies down on a table and a machine directs the energy beams at a precise point on the body. Radiation therapy for liver cancer may involve a technique called stereotactic radiosurgery that simultaneously focuses many beams of radiation at one point in the body.
