Liver cancer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Liver cancer Classification and external resources

Liver cancer is characterized by the presence of malignant hepatic tumors -- tumors or growths on or in the liver (medical terms pertaining to the liver often start in hepato- or hepatic from the Greek word for liver, hēpar, stem hēpat-). They may be discovered on medical imaging (even for a different reason than the cancer itself), or may be present in patients as an abdominal mass, hepatomegaly, abdominal pain, jaundice, or some other liver dysfunction.

[edit] Classification

There are several types of liver cancer:

• Most cases are metastases from other tumors, frequently of the GI tract (like colon cancer, carcinoid tumors mainly of the appendix, etc.), but also from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer, etc.
• The most frequent, malignant, primary liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (also named hepatoma, which is a misnomer because adenomas are usually benign).
• More rare primary forms of liver cancer include cholangiocarcinoma, mixed tumors, tumors of mesenchymal tissue, sarcoma and hepatoblastoma, a rare malignant tumor in children.

[edit] External links

• The Liver Cancer Web Page at Johns Hopkins University
• Liver cancer at Mayo Clinic
• Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association