The liver is one of the largest organs in the body -- the skin is
larger -- filling the upper right side of the abdomen inside the rib cage.
It has two parts, a right lobe and a smaller left lobe. The liver has many
important functions, including: Filtering harmful substances from the
blood so they can be passed from the body in stools and urine; making bile
to help digest fats from food; storing
glycogen (sugar), which the body
uses for energy.
There are two ways in which cancer can involve the
liver. The cancer can arise from the liver itself (primary liver cancer)
or it can spread to the liver from a primary tumor at another site
(secondary, or metastatic, cancer).
Liver Cancer
Liver cancer is diagnosed in about 19,000 Americans annually but is much more
common elsewhere and is the fifth most common cancer globally. Risk factors
include chronic liver infections and some forms of hepatitis. The disease is
common in China and countries without widespread use of the hepatitis B vaccine,
which is routinely given to U.S. infants.
Liver cancer doesn't respond well to conventional chemotherapy and is often
diagnosed too late for surgery to be an option. Many patients die within a year
of diagnosis.
Natural Liver Cancer Treatment or Prevention
Many herbs and nutrients have an influence on liver cancer prevention and
treatment. I will mention a few that I have come across and this liver cancer
page will be updated as more information becomes available. Please note that
research in this area is minimal and should not be used to forego
traditional medical treatment for liver cancer unless your doctor reads
this information and concurs with trying some of these supplements. We
will need significantly more research in this area of herbal medicine
before we can make any statements with confidence regarding the role of
herbs in liver support.
Mangosteen is a fruit
Lycium or Wolfberry also known as Goji berry
Diet and liver cancer
Certain foods, among them milk and fruit, appear to reduce the likelihood of
developing liver cancer. Dr. Renato Talamini, at the National Tumor Institute in
Aviano, and colleagues studied 185 patients with liver cancer and a comparison
group of 412 "controls" without cancer. As intake of various foods went up, the
risk of liver cancer went down. High intakes of milk and yoghurt reduced the
chances of developing liver cancer. High consumption of white meat lowered the
risk by 56 percent, and with high intake of fruit, it went down by 52 percent.
Vegetables, too, apparently had a protective effect, but this didn't reach
significance from a statistical standpoint. The researchers saw that the
findings held good for patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection. Dr/. RenatoTalamini advised that, to ward off liver cancer, one
should "adopt a correct diet, rich in fruits and vegetables." Also important, he
added, "is limiting consumption of alcohol beverages and avoiding HCV infection
by practicing safe sex and eliminating needle sharing." International Journal of
Cancer, December 15, 2006.
Liver cancer symptom
Abdominal pain is generally the initial and most frequent symptom of
liver cancer. While the pain my be severe in some instances, the pain is more
likely to be a persistent dull ache, which intensifies in later stages. Weakness
and weight loss are also common symptoms of liver cancer. Liver cancer is
sometimes called a "silent disease" because in its early stages it often does
not cause symptoms. But, as the tumor grows, liver cancer symptoms may include:
Pain in the upper abdomen on the right side; nausea and vomiting; swollen
abdomen (bloating); weight loss; loss of appetite and feelings of fullness;
fatigue and weakness; yellow skin and eyes, and dark urine from jaundice; and
lastly fever. Please note that a number of medical conditions can cause these
symptoms, they are not exclusive to liver cancer.
Liver cancer treatment
Primary liver cancer is difficult to treat. Surgical removal is the best
option but these tumors are often too large and too extensive for surgery.
Chemotherapy is occasionally used for inoperable tumors but any benefit is
usually short lived. Unfortunately liver cancer cure is difficult.
Several different types of treatment may be offered for
secondary liver cancer, most frequently chemotherapy. Surgeons may also resect
one or two isolated, metastatic liver tumors.
Metastatic liver cancer
Metastatic cancers are tumors that spread from the organ or origin.
Because of its blood supply, the liver is a common site for some cancers to
spread. Some of the most common cancers that spread to the liver are those
originating in the colon, pancreas, lung and breast. Lymphomas and leukemias can
also invade the liver. So can others.
Liver cancer survival rate - liver cancer prognosis
Unfortunately, survival rates for primary liver cancer are low. Survival
rate depends on the stage of the liver cancer. Liver cancer prognosis depends on
many things, including how early the tumor has been detected. Surgery may be an
option if the tumor is small enough and caught early. The success rate of this
surgery, however, is low; only ten to twenty percent of all hepatocellular
carcinoma surgeries succeed in entirely removing cancerous tissue. If the
surgery is not successful, the disease is often fatal within three to six
months; the prognosis for liver metastases is equally poor.
Liver Cancer statistics
Primary liver cancer (cancer that starts in the liver) is one of the most
common cancers in the world, with approximately one million cases reported every
year. This ranges from about 15,000 cases in the United States to more than a
250,000 in China. About 80% of people with primary liver cancer are male.
Liver Cancer cause
In the western world, most people who develop liver cancer usually also
have a condition called cirrhosis of the liver. This is a fine scarring
throughout the liver which is due to a variety of causes including infection and
heavy alcohol drinking over a long period of time. However, only a small
proportion of people who have cirrhosis of the liver develop primary liver
cancer.
Infection with either the hepatitis B or hepatitis C
virus can lead to liver cancer, and can also be the cause of cirrhosis.
Steroid abuse, smoking, and exposure to toxins are
additional causes of liver cancer.
People who have a rare condition called
haemochromatosis, which causes excess deposits of iron in the body, have a
higher chance of developing liver cancer.
In Africa and Asia a poison called aflatoxin, found in
moldy peanuts and grain, is an important cause of liver cancer.
High blood levels of the
pesticide DDT are
associated with an elevated risk of liver cancer.
The role of Coffee
A study, published in the August 2005 issue of International Journal of
Cancer. based on data from more than 60,000 Japanese adults, bolsters the
findings of another study published earlier this year that linked coffee
consumption to a lower risk of liver cancer. In the current study, researchers
found that men and women who drank at least one cup of coffee a day were less
likely to develop liver cancer than those who drank little or none. Compared
with occasional coffee drinkers, habitual drinkers were 29 percent less likely
to develop liver cancer over the 7 to 9 years the researchers followed them. And
in comparison to their peers who never drank coffee, their liver cancer risk was
42 percent lower.
Liver Cancer Research Update
Effect of lycium barbarum polysaccharide on human hepatoma QGY7703 cells:
inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis.
Life Sci. 2005 Mar 18;76(18):2115-24.
Lycium barbarum polysaccharide, extracted from Lycium barbarum that is a kind
of traditional Chinese herb, is found to have anticancer activity. In this
study, the effect of lycium on the proliferation rate, cell cycle distribution
and apoptosis in the human hepatoma QGY7703 cell line were investigated. The
study suggests that the induction of cell cycle arrest and the increase of
intracellular calcium in apoptotic system may participate in the
antiproliferative activity of lycium in human liver cancer QGY7703 cells.
Chemical aspects of
coumarin compounds for the prevention of
hepatocellular carcinomas.
Curr Med Chem Anti-Canc Agents. 2005 Jan;5(1):47-51.
The normalization of plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) has been
proved to be a strategy for preventing the development of liver cancer in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infection. Glycyrrhizin, a
plant medicine, normalizes plasma ALT and prevents liver cancer. However,
glycyrrhizin is administered intravenously and thereby chemical which is
effective on oral administration is required. Coumarin compounds are
active components of herbs used for the treatment of various diseases. The
ability of coumarin compounds to lower plasma ALT were examined. Furocoumarin effectively lowers plasma ALT, but the safety range between
the effective and toxic dosages is narrow. In contrast,
osthole, a simple
coumarin, causes strong reduction of plasma ALT and also inhibits
caspase-3 activation. Furthermore, this chemical is quite safe upon large
dose administration. In the structure of osthole, the methoxy group at
position-7 and the 3-methyl-2-butenyl group at position-8 were elucidated
to be essential for the beneficial effect of this chemical. We conclude
that osthole will become a leading chemical for synthesizing a compound
which prevents liver cancer on oral administration.
Chemoprevention against hepatocellular carcinoma ( liver cancer ) of
Cornus officinalis in vitro.
Am J Chin Med. 2004;32(5):717-25.
The water extracts of Cornus officinalis Sieb. et Zuce against hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC) was studied for its chemopreventive potential. Three HCC cell
lines (HepG2, SK-Hep1 and PLC/PRF/5) and three leukemic cell lines (U937, K562
and Raji) were tested with XTT assay. Extracts of C. officinalis inhibited all
these HCC cells and leukemic cells at a concentration of 100 microg/ml (P <
0.05) and was dose-dependent (P < 0.0001). P53 (P< 0.0001) and Ras significantly
affected its activity against HCC. Extracts of C. officinalis also possessed the
anti-oxidant activity through free radicals scavenging activity at a
concentration of 50 microg/ml. In summary, our experiment implied that C.
officinalis might be a candidate for chemopreventive agent against
hepatocellular carcinoma through the antioxidant and anti-neoplastic effects.
Garcinone E, a xanthone derivative, has potent
cytotoxic effect against hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.
Planta Med. 2002 Nov;68(11):975-9.
Treatment of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) with chemotherapy has
generally been disappointing and it is most desirable to have more
effective new drugs. We extracted and purified 6 xanthone compounds from
the rinds (peel) of the fruits of Garcinia mangostana L. ( mangosteen ), and then tested the cytotoxic effects of these
compounds on a panel of 14 different human cancer cell lines including 6
hepatoma cell lines. Our results have shown that
one of the xanthone derivatives from mangosteen which could be identified as garcinone E
has potent cytotoxic effect on all HCC cell lines as well as on the other
gastric and lung cancer cell lines included in the screen. We suggest that
garcinone E extract from mangosteen may be potentially useful for the treatment of certain types
of cancer. Liver cancer symptom.
Additional herbs for liver cancer
Celery Seed extract
Liver Cancer Questions
Q. Would lipoic acid be helpful in liver cancer?
A. I have not seen any research regarding the use of lipoic acid supplement for liver cancer.