Symptoms in the late stages of liver cancer

The article is professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Le Thien Quang - Internal Oncologist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital. The doctor has more than 15 years of experience in the field of examination and diagnosis of oncological diseases and treatment modalities of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and palliative care.

Liver cancer is a silent disease that is difficult to recognize in its early stages. According to statistics, the majority of patients with liver cancer are diagnosed when the disease is already in the terminal stage, the symptoms of the late stage disease only become apparent when the tumor has grown.

1.1 Fatigue, weight loss Fatigue is a common response of the body to liver cancer and especially in the late stage of liver cancer. Although you do not do any heavy work, you are always in a state of fatigue, you lose the ability to work. In addition, the weakness of the body also causes people with terminal liver cancer to lose weight quickly, usually about 5-6 kg within 1 month, some people lose faster.
1.2. Digestive disorders When liver function declines, your body and especially the digestive system will decrease its function. The digestive system will often be disturbed and you will also often suffer from diseases related to the digestive system such as constipation, diarrhea, frequent severe abdominal pain.
In addition, you always have a feeling of fullness, bloating, and gas even though you don't eat or eat very little. When suffering from advanced liver cancer, the patient often falls into the state of defecating many times a day and the stools are broken and have a lot of mucus.
1.3. Big liver

Hepatomegaly is when liver cancer patients will feel tumors in the liver part of the body. These tumors are an important signal that the liver is severely damaged. Patients can easily feel the lumps of different sizes on the upper abdominal surface. The patient's body deteriorates rapidly. For people with terminal liver cancer, due to various factors, the body quickly debilitates. Some other signs of end-stage liver cancer like – hair loss, hair loss and appearance of star vessels in thin areas of the body.
1.4. Constant pain For patients with advanced liver cancer, pain is inevitable. The liver is the organ located near the stomach, the damage to the liver will cause sudden and prolonged abdominal pain.
The pains in the liver and spread to the stomach cause a very uncomfortable and miserable feeling. These are signs of liver cancer. Ending this pain will require conventional pain relievers. However, if you use pain relievers in high concentrations, the liver function will be further impaired.
1.5. Ascites When liver cancer is in the terminal stage, the patient presents with lower extremity edema, enlarged abdomen and often yellow with withered grass or red color (due to blood). The reason is that in the late stage, liver cancer produces fluid in the abdominal cavity, causing the abdomen to swell. Therefore, the patient has a feeling of discomfort.
1.6. Jaundice Jaundice is a characteristic manifestation of end stage liver cancer. When liver cancer moves to the final stage, the liver tumors grow larger, compressing the liver, causing the blockage between the liver and the bile ducts to increase, thereby forming symptoms of jaundice or yellow eyes.
Jaundice occurs in about 85% of liver cancer patients with biliary tract tumors, end stage liver cancer causes the metabolism of substances, the process of bile metabolism to be reduced, bilirubin levels to increase, so the disease Patients with advanced liver cancer often have yellow eyes, jaundice, dark urine, itching on the skin.
For patients with terminal liver cancer, most of the liver cancer cells have metastasized to other parts of the body, the patient must at the same time apply different treatment measures such as chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, oral drugs can control liver cancer cells.
However, the treatment causes the patient's health to decline, the patient is tired, depressed ... so the treatment of liver cancer in the late stages can only help prolong the life of the patient. It cannot be cured by any means.

The symptoms of late stage liver cancer are often painful and difficult for patients to live. Especially, at present, there is no cure for terminal liver cancer. Therefore, patients need to pay attention to recognize the disease from the early stages to take timely and appropriate treatment measures. Therefore, it is necessary to go to the doctor to screen for liver cancer as soon as there are any abnormal signs.
Currently, Vinmec International General Hospital is implementing cancer screening packages suitable for many subjects at risk of different diseases, including the liver cancer screening package - early detection of cancer from cancer patients. when there are no symptoms. With the screening package for hepatobiliary cancer, customers will have the opportunity to detect abnormalities in the body including the presence of cancer cells in the liver and biliary tract in just 1 visit.
In particular, Vinmec International General Hospital is one of the medical facilities with a team of leading medical experts in the field of oncology, the most modern machinery in the region. Thanks to that, it is possible to screen for liver cancer, help detect liver cancer at an early stage so that appropriate and timely treatment measures can be taken.