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Hepatocellular carcinoma - Overview

Alternative Names

Primary liver cell carcinoma; Tumor - liver; Liver cancer; Cancer - liver

Definition of Hepatocellular carcinoma:

Hepatocellular carcinoma is cancer of the liver.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 80 - 90% of all liver cancers. This type of cancer occurs more often in men than women. It is usually seen in people ages 50 - 60.

The disease is more common in parts of Africa and Asia than in North or South America and Europe.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is not the same as metastatic liver cancer, which starts in another organ (breast or colon) and spreads to the liver.

The cause of liver cancer is usually scarring of the liver (cirrhosis). Cirrhosis may be caused by:

Alcohol abuse (the most common cause in the U.S.)
Certain autoimmune diseases of the liver
Diseases that cause long-term swelling and irritation (chronic inflammation) of the liver
Hepatitis B and C
Too much iron in the body (hemochromatosis)

Patients with hepatitis B or C are at risk for liver cancer, even if they do not have cirrhosis.

Digestive system

Liver biopsy

Hepatocellular cancer, CT scan

Reviewed last on: 9/4/2008
Sean O. Stitham, MD, private practice in Internal Medicine, Seattle, Washington; and James R. Mason, MD, Oncologist, Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program and Stem Cell Processing Lab, Scripps Clinic, Torrey Pines, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Kew MC. Hepatic tumors and cysts. In: Feldman M, Friedman LS, Sleisenger MH, eds. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2006: chap 91.

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