K Hospital doctor points out the signs and causes of liver cancer – Life Health

Dr. BS Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of the Department of Treatment, K Hospital gives advice to prevent liver cancer.

Liver cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers in the world. In Vietnam, liver cancer ranks first among the most common types of cancer with the number of cases in 2018 being more than 26,000 cases. Liver cancer in the early stages often has no obvious symptoms, which can easily be mistaken for some other diseases, so many patients come for examination and treatment when the disease is at a late stage.

Dr. BS Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of the Department of Treatment requested, K Hospital gave advice from doctors to prevent this disease.

Can you tell me why the rate of liver cancer in our country is increasing rapidly in terms of both new cases and deaths?

In Vietnam, the rate of hepatitis B infection is very high, this is the leading factor and cause Carcinogenic liver. The prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in our country is up to 15-20% of the population. The second factor that increases the incidence of this disease is that many people have a habit of using alcohol regularly. In addition, certain factors can increase the risk of the disease such as gender (more common in men than women), people with chronic liver disease (cirrhosis), fatty liver.

However, certain factors can increase the risk of the disease such as gender (more common in men than women), people with chronic liver disease (cirrhosis), fatty liver, hepatitis Bhepatitis C, obesity, aflatoxin contamination by molds….

In addition, the cause of liver cancer may be related to environmental factors, diet, abuse of alcohol, tobacco, etc.” obesity, aflatoxin contamination by molds…. It is also assessed as one of the risk factors for increasing the incidence of liver cancer.

How do doctors assess the mortality rate of this disease is much higher than that of other cancers?

Liver cancer is a cancer with the highest mortality rate today because most patients are detected at a late stage. Therefore, the time of diagnosis greatly affects the effectiveness of treatment.

Most of the early symptoms of liver cancer are ignored because it seems to be just a normal response of the body. In the early stages of liver cancer, patients may experience symptoms of anorexia; pain, heaviness in the right lower quadrant; abdominal distention, jaundice, sclera eyes, …

When the cancer cell spread to a certain extent, new abnormal features become more obvious such as fatigue, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, abdominal distention, dark urine, jaundice, unexplained weight loss… ….

The earliest clinical symptoms of liver cancer are often atypical. So, if for 2 weeks in a row, if you feel pain in the liver area, fever, weight loss and other symptoms above, you should go to a hospital or reputable specialist facility for a timely check, through That can eliminate the risk of liver cancer or treat it promptly if it is unfortunate.

Hepatitis B and C are the main causes of liver cancer, can you tell me how the hepatitis virus destroys the liver, doctor?

Hepatitis B and C viruses, when entering the liver, it will release inflammatory substances, these substances cause liver cell changes and disorders, gene mutations, these cells malignant changes cause cancer.

So how many years does this process take, doctor?

Usually, it takes 20 to 30 years from the time of infection with Hepatitis B and C to the formation of cancer. Like other cancers, liver cancer is caused by changes in cell structure, genetic material changes will lead to malignant changes, it will proliferate under the control of the body, leading to destruction. adjacent tissues and organs and destroy, dysfunctional organs, and metastatic cancer cells.

Currently, the detection and treatment of liver cancer in our country is done with what methods?

Liver cancer is difficult to detect early because there are no specific symptoms, and people’s habits and perceptions often do not go for screening, so in our country, most patients come for examination and detect when the disease is at an advanced stage. late stage, leading to very expensive and less effective treatment. If detected at an early stage, treatment is much simpler and more effective.

Periodic liver cancer screening is one of the ways to detect the disease early, even when there are no symptoms. When the disease is detected early, the treatment effect is very good, in case the tumor resides at an early stage, surgery can be completely resolved and the patient can live for many years without recurrence. , there are patients who are stable for 5,10,15,20,30 years and can be assessed as cured. Vietnam currently has the latest achievements in the treatment of liver cancer, if countries around the world have new application methods, Vietnam can also do it. For example, the latest achievements in the treatment of early liver cancer are liver resection or liver transplantation in Vietnam. For intermediate stage, use local measures such as radiofrequency ablation or heat to destroy tumor, microwave treatment, chemoembolization … in addition, for metastatic stage In the absence of local interventions, invasive drugs, targeted drugs or, most recently, immunotherapy have also been shown to be prolonged in late-stage patients.

To reduce morbidity and mortality from this disease, it is necessary to do good prevention, which means eliminating risk factors for liver cancer, leading to vaccination programs to prevent transmission. hepatitis B and C infection, followed by also restricting alcohol use, there are laws restricting alcohol consumption. Maintain a healthy lifestyle, eat healthy, maintain a reasonable weight.

Secondly, it is necessary to propagate to raise people’s awareness about the implementation of early cancer screening screening, so that people have the habit of going for regular health check-ups, early detection, and people at high risk such as: often use alcohol, work in a dusty environment, etc. should be screened sooner than every 6 months by means of imaging diagnostics, examination at specialized facilities. Finally, treatment, reducing mortality from disease, prolonging survival time, researching, investing more in therapeutic drugs, equipment, and improving technology in liver cancer treatment.

Sincerely thank the doctor!