Liver cancer can be difficult to treat because many patients also have chronic hepatitis B or C, fatty liver disease or cirrhosis, leaving limited liver reserve. Treatment decisions must consider not only the size, number and location of tumours and whether they have spread, but also liver function and the person’s overall condition. Early liver cancer may cause few or no symptoms, making regular surveillance important for people whom their doctors identify as high risk.
Possible symptoms include discomfort or pain in the right upper abdomen, poor appetite, weight loss, abdominal swelling, jaundice, easy bleeding and fatigue, although these symptoms can have other causes. Depending on the individual case, treatment may involve surgical removal, liver transplantation, local ablation, embolisation, radiotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy. Planning is best undertaken by a multidisciplinary team that may include liver surgeons, oncologists, hepatologists and radiologists.
TCM may form part of supportive care for appetite, sleep, fatigue, pain or treatment side effects, but it cannot guarantee tumour shrinkage, prevention of spread or longer survival. When liver function is impaired, some herbs and supplements may cause further liver injury or interact with anticancer medicines, so every product should be checked with the treating team. Vomiting blood, black stools, confusion, rapidly increasing abdominal swelling, worsening jaundice or sudden severe pain requires urgent medical attention.
People with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or cirrhosis may need specialist follow-up and liver-cancer surveillance even when well. Surveillance cannot prevent every liver cancer, but it may detect disease while tumours are smaller and more options remain; waiting for pain or jaundice can lose valuable time.
