TYPES OF LIVER CANCER

Benign Liver Tumors

Hemangioma

Among all benign tumors, the most frequent is the "hemangioma, which originates in the blood vessel cells of the liver. It has a "5-10 times greater incidence in women than in men, and is usually discovered by accident during an" ultrasound performed for other reasons.

This type of tumor has its own "pulsatility": if it pulsates like blood vessels, we are sure that it is a hemangioma and as such we normally do not have to treat it; it is surgically removed only when it causes symptoms or is very bulky.

Simple adenoma

Among the other benign neoplasms, all very rare, we find the simple adenoma, which originates from hepatocytes, and which is more frequently found in women who use estrogen-progestogen contraceptives (the pill).

This benign lesion must "be distinguished from hepatic nodules, often associated with chronic liver diseases, especially cirrhosis (characterized by many diffuse nodules with a diameter ranging from 0.1 to 1 cm). C" is also one of the liver tumors benign, it includes the so-called localized hepatic steatosis, or an "infiltration of fat cells" inside a group of nearby hepatocytes (which makes them similar to a nodule). It is a very frequent disease in obese patients, diabetics, alcoholics and in those who use anabolic steroids. It can be seen very well with ultrasound, and the only truly effective therapy is a proper diet.

Malignant Liver Tumors

Much more important, due to their greater frequency and morbidity, are malignant tumors: the "hepatocarcinoma, characterized by an uncontrolled proliferation of malignant hepatocytes, and the cholangiocarcinoma, which results from a proliferation of cells in the bile ducts.

The first is about 5 times more frequent than the second, however, without significant differences in symptomatology between the two. The sex most affected is male, 5 times more than female: among men, in fact, hepatocellular carcinoma is the seventh most common form of cancer; among women the ninth, but the frequency is constantly increasing. more frequent onset, in Europe and North America, is over 40 years old, while it is less than 40 years old in Africa and Asia.
Primary liver tumors appear as a single nodule, mostly on the right side of the organ, or as a diffuse multinodular neoplasm (formed by many nodules spread throughout the liver, very frequent if the tumor originates from cirrhosis nodules present for many years), with frequent combinations between the two forms. The tumor cells can metastasize in the same liver, in another part of the organ (intrahepatic), or in other sites (extrahepatic).

The latter are common above all to the lymph nodes of the liver, but can also involve those of the mediastinum (in the thorax) and the cervical ones, and also organs in a "other location, the gastrointestinal system in all its locations, the lung, the breast, the skeleton (especially vertebrae and ribs) and the brain.