Hepatocellular carcinoma
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Hepatocellular carcinoma
Pathology
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Appendicitis: Pathology review
Cirrhosis: Pathology review
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Assessments
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Flashcards
0 / 8 complete
USMLE® Step 1 questions
0 / 1 complete
High Yield Notes
18 pages
Flashcards
Hepatocellular carcinoma
of complete
Questions
USMLE® Step 1 style questions USMLE
of complete
External References
First Aid
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Aflatoxin
hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
α-fetoprotein
in hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
Anorexia
liver cancer/tumors p. 401
Ascites
hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
Fatty liver disease
hepatocellular carcinoma and p. 401
Hemochromatosis p. 404
hepatocellular carcinoma and p. 401
Hepatitis C (HCV)
hepatocellular carcinoma and p. 401
Hepatomegaly
hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
Jaundice p. 402
hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
Metastases p. 401
liver cancer p. 401
Polycythemia/vera p. 441
hepatocellular carcinoma p. 401
Transcript
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As opposed to benign hepatic tumors, malignant hepatic tumors are cancerous, very severe, and are actually now the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
With these malignant liver cells or hepatocytes, just like malignant cells in other cancers, they develop some mutation that causes them to replicate at way higher rates and form these masses of cells that continue to grow and potentially spread to other tissues.
This would be a primary hepatic tumor, since it starts in the liver. It’s totally possible, though, for liver tumor to develop as a metastasis from another primary cancer, in which case it would not be hepatocellular carcinoma, but a carcinoma from somewhere else, and this is actually more common than primary liver tumors themselves.
The most common sources of the tumor cells that got to the liver but started somewhere else are the colon, pancreas, lung and breast.
What exactly causes the mutation in the hepatocyte though?
Well the mechanism isn’t fully understood and can probably be caused by a lot of different things, most importantly though, things that put the liver in a constant cycle of damage and repair are the biggest culprits.
If the liver cells are constantly being forced to repair, this raises the chances of genetic mistakes or mutations, potentially leading to carcinogenesis or development of cancer cells.
Examples might be any disease that leads to cirrhosis and scarring of the liver tissue, which can include alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, hereditary hemochromatosis, primary biliary cirrhosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, and others.
The most common risk factor, the ones that have been linked the most with hepatocellular carcinoma are the hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, both of which can become chronic or long-lasting.
In this case, these cells are at greater risk because of the constant state of infection and immune cell attack, leading to constant damage and repair.
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