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Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

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Illustration showing the liver, located above the stomach The liver

Liver cancer is cancer that begins in the cells of your liver. Your liver is a football-sized organ that sits in the upper right portion of your abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach.

Liver cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world, but liver cancer is uncommon in the United States. Rates of liver cancer diagnosis are increasing in the United States.

In the United States, most cancer that occurs in the liver begins in another area of the body, such as the colon, lung or breast. Doctors call this metastatic cancer, rather than liver cancer. And this type of cancer is named after the organ in which it began — such as metastatic colon cancer to describe cancer that begins in the colon and spreads to the liver.

Symptoms
References
  1. Marrero JA, et al. Modern diagnosis and management of hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2009;13:233.
  2. What you need to know about liver cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/liver/allpages/print. Accessed May 13, 2009.
  3. Weber S, et al. Liver and bile duct cancer. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:1569.
  4. Hepatobiliary cancer. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/hepatobiliary.pdf. Accessed May 13, 2009.
  5. What is liver cancer? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_is_liver_cancer_25.asp?sitearea=. Accessed May 27, 2009.
  6. Liver cancer: Questions to ask the doctor. Cancer.Net. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Liver+Cancer. Accessed May 13, 2009.
  7. Nguyen CT, et al. Hepatitis vaccination and prophylaxis. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2009;13:317.
  8. Hepatitis C. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/education/info/hepatitisc/. Accessed May 27, 2009.
  9. Bruix J, et al. AASLD practice guideline: Management of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology. 2005;42:1208.

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July 2, 2009

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