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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 most 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 (such as the breast or colon) and spreads to the liver.

In most cases, 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 United States)
Certain autoimmune diseases of the liver
Diseases that cause long-term inflammation of the liver
Hepatitis B or C virus infection
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: 8/9/2009
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

National Cancer Institute. Adult primary liver cancer treatment PDQ. Updated May 22, 2009.

Roberts LR. Liver and biliary tract tumors. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 206.

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