Early symptoms of liver cancer are not characteristic, and they are not always bothersome - that's why many people combine them with completely different diseases, or even ignore them, attributing to a poor diet or stressful lifestyle. Meanwhile, liver cancer detected early is actually completely curable. What symptoms may indicate the development of liver cancer? What to look for and what to tell the doctor?

Early symptoms of liver cancerdo not appear in everyone who develops this cancer - it happens, and not so rarely, that early liver cancer, both Hepatocellular carcinoma and bile duct carcinoma are asymptomatic. That is why early diagnosis of liver cancer occurs relatively rarely and usually by accident - for example, during the diagnosis of other diseases or during preventive examinations.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that liver cancer is one of the worst-prognostic neoplasms: from the moment the disease is detected, its course is usually very fast, and metastases also appear quickly. Therefore, if you have symptoms that may indicate the development of liver cancer, do not delay seeing your doctor. What should be worrying?

Liver cancer early symptoms: abdominal and upper abdominal pain

One of the early symptoms of liver cancer may be recurring abdominal pain for no apparent reason (e.g. diet changes or stress), which may or may not be associated with nausea.

The early symptoms of liver cancer also include the feeling of general "discomfort" in the abdomen, which patients describe as a feeling of fullness, overflow, bloating. The development of tumors in the liver may also be accompanied by epigastric pain.

Liver cancer early symptoms: feeling of tightness under the right rib

One of the possible early symptoms of liver cancer may also be a feeling of tension under the right rib, where the liver is located. This is not typical liver pain - many people describe it as "stretching", especially felt when lying down and trying to bend over.

Liver cancer early symptoms: diarrhea

Some people with early stage liver cancer may also experience diarrhea, especially after meals. Diarrhea may be accompanied by nausea andvomiting.

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Liver cancer early symptoms: other possible conditions

Symptoms that may signal liver cancer include a number of other ailments - general fatigue and fast fatigue, itching of the skin (without accompanying dermatological diseases), sometimes also fever that is not caused by infection and painful muscle spasms.

Some people also develop leg swelling. In the later stages of the disease, there is jaundice, lack of appetite, weight loss, enlargement of the abdominal circumference (associated with the accumulation of water from the lower abdomen - the so-called ascites), tarry stools appear, associated with bleeding into the upper gastrointestinal tract, and the organism is also exhausted.

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