Primary liver cancer is relatively uncommon in the United States. But it is very common for cancers that begin in another part of the body to spread to the liver.

In the rest of the world, primary liver cancer is a serious health problem. Risk factors include hepatitis B infection, alcohol-induced cirrhosis, and eating some contaminated foods. We also think various drugs, chemicals, and pesticides induce liver cancer. It is more common in males than in females.

The usual symptom is a dull pain in the upper abdomen or swelling of the liver. Sometimes abnormal liver function levels show up on a routine blood test. If this happens, the blood tests are usually repeated. If the results remain elevated,further testing, such as a cat scan or MRI of the liver may be ordered.

Surgery is considered the only useful treatment for liver cancer. Removal of one part of the organ is called resection. When just part of the liver is removed, there is a good chance the cancer may recur. If the cancer is a small primary liver cancer, confined to the liver, liver transplant is rarely used. Following a liver transplant, there is no guarantee that the cancer will not recur, and transplantation has its own complications. If the cancer started in another organ and moved to the liver, liver resection is not generally very effective.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy usually don't prolong survival even if they do have an effect on decreasing the size of the tumor. Most patients with primary or secondary liver cancer will not live more than a year. For more information about liver cancer, call the American Cancer Society at (800) ACS-2345 or the National Cancer Institute at (800) 4-CANCER.

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