What are the risk factors for liver cancer?
Liver cancer “is among the cancers with a poor prognosis,” according to the French League Against Cancer. 11,660 new cases were recorded in France in 2023, and 76% of them involved men. It should be noted that this disease most often occurs in a liver already weakened by alcoholic cirrhosis or viral hepatitis.

Alcohol is the main risk factor for liver cancer: it is responsible for 48% of new cases, according to the French National Cancer Institute (INCa). Tobacco use, hepatitis B and C, obesity and being overweight, hemochromatosis, fatty liver disease, and a sedentary lifestyle are also risk factors.

Here are some signs that may indicate liver cancer:

Liver cancer is often discovered during the monitoring of alcoholic cirrhosis or viral hepatitis. But when it affects a healthy person, it is asymptomatic in most cases, which often leads to late diagnosis. If it is a so-called “silent” cancer, symptoms may appear and vary depending on the stage, according to the Léon Bérard Cancer Center. These may include:

fatigue;
abdominal pain localized to the right side of the abdomen;
unexplained weight loss;
jaundice, namely yellowing of the skin and eyes;
abdominal swelling;
loss of appetite;
nausea;

itching.

In a video posted on her TikTok account in November 2023, Dr. Pauline Guillouche, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist, reminded people that symptoms suggestive of liver dysfunction “are not specific to liver cancer, but should prompt you to consult a doctor so that further investigations can be carried out.”

Liver cancer: what are the possible treatments?

On its website, the French National Cancer Institute (INCa) lists the “four types of standard treatments” for liver cancer:

partial surgical removal of the part of the liver containing the tumor;
liver transplantation;
tumor ablation, which aims to destroy the tumor locally using heat or cold, through the skin and therefore without opening the abdomen;
chemotherapy, which aims to reduce the size of the tumor and slow the progression of the disease.