Warning signs

Patients often do not complain and donot have any symptoms at all.  Small liver tumors are usually only found by ultrasound or special x-ray examinations.

You should definitely see your doctor for a check-up if you have the following symptoms:

• Upper abdominal tenderness
• Palpable swelling below the right rib cage
• Lack of appetite, nausea or fever of unknown origin
• Weakness, decreased vitality
• Unintentional weight loss
• Jaundice

Having such symptoms does not necessarily mean you have a tumor.  All these complaints can have comparatively harmless causes, but they may also be an indication of cancer.  You should therefore clarify the cause of such complaints as quickly as possible.  Do not by any means keep postponing your visit to the doctor!

Act quickly because timely diagnosis is the prerequisite for successful treatment of the disease.  In its early stages, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be surgically resected or eliminated by radiofrequency ablation, and the disease can be cured.  Unfortunately, many people already have advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis, and a cure is hardly possible.  But even in advanced cases, a timely diagnosis can help increase your chance of survival and make your remaining life span bearable and worth living.

Liver cancer rarely causes symptoms in its early stages.  Those affected do not notice anything at first.  Small liver tumors are often found during routine examinations (ultrasound scanning).  The first nonspecific symptoms of liver cancer usually do not occur until the disease has already reached an advanced stage, and then it may be too late for a complete cure.

The following symptoms can occur:

• Upper abdominal tenderness
• Palpable swelling below the right rib cage
•  Lack of appetite, nausea or fever of unknown origin
• Weakness, decreased vitality
• Unintentional weight loss
• Jaundice (yellow skin tone) and itching

What does your doctor do?

If liver cancer is suspected, a thorough examination must be performed immediately.  In  some cases, it is possible to detect an elevated “tumor marker” (alpha1-fetoprotein = AFP) or a hepatitis infection, and your doctor can use ultrasound to check for a tumor.  Further diagnostic methods include computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.  Both examinations are preceded by intravenous injection of a contrast medium that is taken up largely by cancer tissue.  Cancer thus becomes visible in the images.  The examination is painless and takes less than half an hour.
 

Contact

Center of Interventional Hepatobiliary Medicine
Prof. Dr. med. Hans Scherübl
Vivantes Klinikum Am Urban
Academic Teaching Hospital of Charité, Berlin

Dieffenbachstraße 1
10967 Berlin
Tel: + 49 30 130 225201
Fax: + 49 30 130 225205
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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