Most cancerous liver tumors are due to a cancer having spread from another part of the body (metastases), most commonly from a cancer in the colon (bowel), stomach, breast, ovary, lung, kidney, or, in men, prostate gland.
Cancer that originates within the liver (primary liver cancer) may result from chronic viral hepatitis, cirrhosis from long-term alcohol abuse, exposure to toxins, or, mainly in parts of Asia, infection with a type of liver fluke (p.238). People with the inherited disorder hemochromatosis (in which iron builds up in the body) are also at risk of developing liver cancer.
Symptoms, which typically do not appear until the cancer is advanced, may include weight loss, fever, pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, jaundice, and abdominal swelling due to fluid build-up.
Treatment may involve surgery to remove part of the liver, microwave or radio-wave therapy to destroy the cancerous cells, a liver transplant, or chemotherapy.