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 performs many other important functions, such as removing toxins and other chemical waste products from the blood and readying them for excretion. All the blood in the body must pass through it; the liver is unusually accessible to cancer cells traveling in the bloodstream.
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. Most liver cancer is secondary or metastatic, meaning it started elsewhere in the body. The liver is made up of several types of cells; different tumors can form there. Some of these are benign (noncancerous), and some are cancerous and can spread to other parts of the body (metastasize). These tumors have different causes and are treated differently. The outlook for health or recovery depends on what type of tumor you have.
The more common benign tumors of the liver include:
Hemangioma
Hepatic adenoma
Focal nodular hyperplasia
Cysts
Lipoma
Fibroma
Leiomyoma
Liver cancers include:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
Cholangiocarcinoma
What Causes Liver Cancer?
Primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) tends to occur in livers damaged by birth defects, alcohol abuse, or chronic infection with diseases such as hepatitis B and C, hemochromatosis (a hereditary disease associated with too much iron in the liver), and cirrhosis. Liver cancer may also be linked to obesity and fatty liver disease.
