Symptoms
Many people with liver cancer have no symptoms until the disease becomes advanced. Among the common symptoms of advanced liver cancer are:
- abdominal (hepatic) pain
- abdominal swelling or mass (a common symptom in children)
- weight loss
- decreased energy
- fevers of unclear origin
- feeling of fullness
- upset or gas-filled stomach
- reduced appetite or aversion to food
- shoulder pain
- general tiredness
- an out-of-sorts mood (malaise)
- bone pain
Physical signs that a doctor may detect include:
- enlargement of the liver (hepatomegaly)
- harsh or musical sound in the abdomen
- enlargement of the spleen (splenomegaly)
- accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity (ascites)
Abnormal Test Results
At least 20 percent of liver cancer patients at UPMC are diagnosed because of abnormal test results discovered as a result of blood tests required for routine physical or health insurance exams. Tests of people with liver cancer usually show what doctors call elevated liver function.
Other patients -- particularly those with a known predisposing disease, such as chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis -- are diagnosed because their liver function test results suddenly worsen or because they show abnormal blood test results for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Patients who are known to have chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis usually have an AFP test and an ultrasonogram once or twice a year, as a way of detecting liver cancer in the early stages.
Clinicians suspect liver cancer when they see an opaque mass on an image created by ultrasound or computed tomography. A follow-up biopsy disproves or provides proof of the existence of liver cancer.