The liver is an important organ of our body that needs to function well, so that our body can carry out daily activities in a proper way. The main function of the liver is to secrete bile into the intestines. This helps in absorbing the useful nutrients that are later broken down into simpler substances and are useful to build and repair tissues. It also protects you from blood clotting and helps in breaking down toxins and wastes in the blood that later on passes through urine and stool.

Overlooking minor liver diseases like hepatitis, chronic inflammation, fatty liver disease, scarring or cirrhosis of the liver may be an invitation for bigger ailments like liver cancer.

1. Early symptoms of liver cancer
When the cells of the liver start growing at an abnormal rate inside your body, it denotes a growth of cancer cells. An initial symptom of liver cancer in the early stages of the disease is quite uncommon, followed by life-threatening symptoms like:

• Sudden weight loss
• Vomiting
• Yellowish skin
• Severe pain in the upper abdomen
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Feeling fatigue and a sense of weakness throughout the day
• Whitish stools
• Yellowish color inside the whites of your eyes
• Swollen abdomen

2. Diagnosing liver cancer
To proceed with liver cancer treatments, a few tests and procedures used to diagnose the disease include the following:

• The very first advice an oncologist gives is to do several blood tests that will highlight the various abnormalities the vital organ is undergoing, due to which it cannot function properly.
• For a much clearer observation of the organ, the doctor may recommend image tests like ultrasound, MRI, and CT scan.

3. Advanced test or biopsy of the liver
In case your doctor suspects a serious illness like liver cancer, he has to perform a biopsy test by removing a small chunk of liver tissue and testing it to confirm the diagnosis as a part of the liver cancer treatment. With the help of a needle, the tissue is exerted from the body and tested under a microscope in a laboratory to see whether cancer cells are present or not. This testing involves bleeding, infections, and even bruises.

4. To understand the spread of cancer cells
As the patient is diagnosed with liver cancer after the biopsy test, the doctor will further want to know the stage of liver cancer. Different tests like MRI and CT scans are done to understand the location of the cancer cells and the nature of its spread. Doctors use either alphabets or roman numbers to stage the disease.

5. Treatment of the disease
As of now, you have seen the symptoms and diagnosis of advanced liver cancer treatments that confirm liver cancer. Treatment of the disease depends upon your age, the extent of the spread, and your overall health. Doctors give their next suggestion depending upon the stage of your liver cancer, whether it is to undergo primary surgery to remove the tumors or go for a liver transplant in case the situation worsens.

It is important to diagnose the disease at the earliest to manage the situation before it worsens. Liver cancer is a curable disease, so you just need to consult a physician to decide the best possible treatment for you.