Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Cure For Liver Cancer


Cure for liver cancer

Cure For Liver Cancer-The number of patients with liver cancer is getting greater day after day. Why does it happen? It is because people less pay attention to take care of the health their body and the lack of knowledge they have about this disease. The diseases attacking the unseen organs, including liver have more chance to be ignored, although the body has sent the signs and symptoms. The result is most of the patients were late to meet the doctors and take a cure for liver cancer. Yes, actually the number of died patients can be decreased if the people who are being diagnosed to suffer liver cancer have kind of awareness to get the cure for liver cancer as soon as possible. Again, it is back to the lack of knowledge. So, let us begin to discuss about this.

First, we have to know what the liver is. Liver is an organ located in the upper right abdomen, beneath the diaphragm and above the stomach. This is the largest organ of our body which is pyramid-like shaped and consists of right and left lobes. What is the function of liver? It plays role in breaking down and storing nutrients absorbed from the colon, making some of the clotting factors needed to stop bleeding caused by injury, making bile going into colon to help the process of nutrients absorption, and also filtering and breaking down toxic waste in the blood. So, we can see that we cannot live without liver. Liver is built from various kinds of cells which metabolize every day. But, in such condition, the process of metabolism and replacement of cells do not run as the way it should be. This creates tumor. The cancerous tumor is called malignant, while the not cancerous one is known as benign. Based on the place where the cancer comes from, it is divided into two: primary and secondary. The primary liver cancer starts in the liver it self, and the secondary begins in another organ, such as colon, breast, or lungs. The primary liver cancer is divided again into four categories. First, it is hepatocellular carcinoma which begins in the hepatocytes. This is the most common type of liver cancer. The second one is bile duct cancer which begins in the small tubes carrying bile to the gallbladder. The third one is the cancer which begins in the blood vessels within the liver. And the last one is hepatoblastoma which is usually suffered by little children. Those categories also take a part in determining what kind of cure for liver cancer is suitable for the patients.

What is actually causes of liver cancer? Who are the people who have high risk to be the patients with liver cancer? There is no exact cause of liver cancer, but there are several things which can bring us to the higher level of liver cancer risk. Those are obesity, diabetes, alcohol consumption, infection of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C, cirrhosis, iron storage disease, and aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a harmful substance made by type of mold. It contains in corns, nuts, and grains. The people who have those risk factor, they have a bigger chance to suffer liver cancer, but, of course, there is always an exception. That is why we have to keep being aware of the change in our body. It can be a sign that there is something wrong happened with our body. This is what is called symptoms. What are the symptoms of liver cancer which we can consider as warning signs?

There are several symptoms you should be aware of. The first one is pain in the upper right side abdomen. That is a place where liver stays. The patients also feel of heaviness there. It is like there is a lump in the upper abdomen. The other symptoms are swollen and swelling abdomen, loss of appetite leading to loss of weight, weakness, tired, nausea, vomiting, fever, yellowing skin and eyes, pale stool, and dark urine. Unfortunately, those symptoms cannot be felt in the early stage of liver cancer. This is one of many reasons why the patients were usually late in taking cure for liver cancer. They do not notice about the danger threatening them. They will go for medication when it has reached advanced stage. Yes, the liver cancer, as the other cancers, is classified into stages. The staging of liver cancer is based on the extent of liver cancer. How can we identify the stage? The doctor will do a test to know how big the size of the cancer and how far it has spread. The common test done is the imaging test, such as CT scan, MRI, X-ray, and bone scan. By knowing the stage, the doctor will be able to determine the appropriate cure for liver cancer. In the stage I, liver cancer only affects the liver. It begins to spread in the stage II, in which it has gone through blood vessels. In the stage III, the cancer invades the main veins of the liver and nearby structure. It enters stage IV if it has already spread beyond the liver to the other areas of body. Each stage needs different curing treatments. The appropriate and precise cure for liver cancer will determine the chance of the patients’ recovery.

The technology has important part in the development of treatment procedure for kinds of diseases, including liver cancer. There are various options of cure for liver cancer. The doctor will apply one or combine some of them based on the patients’ needs.

The first cure for liver cancer is surgery. It is intentionally conducted for removing the cancer. It is usually recommended for the patients of the early stage liver cancer. The second one is liver transplantation. This is the process of replacing the patient’s liver with the healthy liver got from the donor. The doctors suggest this for the patient of liver cancer caused by hepatitis virus or alcohol and they who have cirrhosis. The third option is cryoablation or freezing the cancer cells. The doctor will place a cryopobe containing liquid nitrogen to the liver cancer. The ultrasound will guide that instrument and monitor the process. On contrary, the doctor offers another cure for liver cancer by heating the cancer cells. This is called radiofrequency ablation. Again, the ultrasound will guide the doctor in inserting needles to the cancer liver, and then the electric current transferred through the needles will heat and destroy the cancer. The other way to fight against liver cancer is by injecting pure alcohol to the cancer. It will dry the cells and make them die. Injecting chemotherapy drugs can also be a cure for liver cancer. This is known as chemoembolization. In this method, the doctor will inject chemo drugs to the cancer and block the hepatic artery which automatically reduces the supply of oxygen and food to the cancer. Through this method, the cancer cells will shrink. The next option is radiotherapy. It uses high-powered energy beams to shrink and destroy the cancer. Unfortunately, the last two methods, chemo and radiotherapy will cause bad side effects, such as fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Beside radiotherapy, there is radio frequency ablation. This is a cure for liver cancer which uses radio waves to heat the cancer cells until they die. The ultrasound scan will help the doctor to see the position of the cancer cells. The radio waves will be transferred through needles inserting to your cancer. The last option is targeted drug therapy. Here, the doctor will inject kind of drug which has ability to stop the growth of the cancer. The drug usually used is Sorafenib. Based on the need of the patients, the doctor may possibly combine two or more types of treatment to get the best result.- Cure For liver Cancer.

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