Where is liver cancer most likely to metastasize? How to prevent metastatic liver cancer?

Liver cancer is very common among the population. Why are people so afraid of liver cancer? Mainly because compared with other cancers, liver cancer develops quickly and is particularly prone to metastasis. Let us learn about the most common metastatic pathways of liver cancer.

Why is liver cancer particularly prone to metastasis?

There is no pain in the early stage of liver cancer, so don't wait until you feel severe pain in your liver before going to the hospital for a checkup. By the time you feel pain, the tumor is often already very large. Therefore, the best way to prevent it is to have regular physical examinations to prevent it before it happens. If it is found within two centimeters, there is still a good solution. Readers may not have the opportunity to see a human liver, but you should have come into contact with pig liver. Among the organs in our body, the liver has the richest blood supply. The blood in the liver flows more and faster. So if cancer grows in the liver, the cancer cells can easily fall into the blood vessels and then flow throughout the body with the blood.

This is why liver cancer, compared to other cancers, can easily spread to other parts of the body once cancer cells appear. Since the liver has a richer blood supply than other organs, this is an important reason for metastasis.

Another reason why liver cancer easily metastasizes is that many people wait until symptoms appear before seeing a doctor. When the liver becomes swollen and painful, they go to see a doctor, but by then the cancer has already grown.

What are the most common ways liver cancer metastasizes?

Hematogenous metastasis: Intrahepatic hematogenous metastasis occurs earliest and is the most common. It can invade the portal vein and form tumor thrombi. Tumor thrombi that fall off in the liver can cause multiple metastatic lesions. Tumor thrombi that block the main trunk of the portal vein can cause portal hypertension and refractory ascites. After invading the hepatic vein, liver cancer cells can enter the systemic circulation and metastasize outside the liver. The lung metastasis rate is the highest. It can also metastasize to various parts of the body through the blood, and organs such as the adrenal glands, bones, kidneys, and brain are more common. Hematogenous metastasis is common in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Lymphatic metastasis: Local metastasis to the hepatic hilar lymph nodes is the most common, and it can also metastasize to the supraclavicular, para-aortic, pancreatic, splenic and other lymph nodes. Lymphatic metastasis is the most common metastasis of cholangiocarcinoma. Lymphatic metastasis only accounts for 12.6% of the total metastasis.

Implantation metastasis: It occurs occasionally, such as implantation in the retroperitoneum to form bloody ascites. Women may also have ovarian metastatic cancer.

Direct infiltration: Liver cancer generally rarely directly infiltrates adjacent organs, but occasionally it can directly spread and infiltrate adjacent tissues and organs, such as the diaphragm, stomach, colon, omentum, etc.

How to prevent metastatic liver cancer?

First of all, we need to clarify whether liver cancer is contagious. Although there are medical cases of liver cancer clustering in families, the reason is the cross-infection of hepatitis, not the infection of liver cancer.

We must also prevent the spread of viral hepatitis. When in contact with liver cancer patients, if the liver cancer patient is caused by the hepatitis B virus, you must pay attention to protection, especially those children and the elderly with weak constitutions. However, liver cancer is not contagious, so there is no need to worry about it.

Develop good living habits. The first thing to prevent liver cancer is to quit smoking and drinking. The second is to develop good eating habits, starting with food hygiene and living habits. Wash your hands frequently and eat separately. Do not eat moldy or mushy food, which contains aflatoxin, a substance that causes cancer. The last thing to emphasize is quality sleep.