Basic Things You Must Know About Kidney Cancer

Posted by admin | Thursday, Feb. 5th 2009

Liver cancers are of two types, primary and secondary. Liver Cancer is relatively rare in the western world where Primary Liver Cancer accounts for just 1% of total cancers detected. The annual incidence of Liver Cancer in the US is 16600 cases. Most of these cases are Metastatic Hepatic Secondary Carcinoma which is a secondary Liver Cancer that spreads to the liver from cancers in the other organs of the body such as the bowel, colon, breast or lungs.

Primary Liver cancer is more common in Asia and Africa and in other developing countries which account for 80% of Liver Cancers worldwide. Primary Liver Cancer comes from the liver tissue itself, due to previous chronic liver disease like hepatitis or cirrhosis.

Liver cancer survival rates are low because the disease is diagnosed late most often and death usually occurs within a few months of diagnosis. The high incidence of the disease in the developing world may be because of late diagnosis and poor treatment options. Liver transplants may not be a viable option in these countries. Moreover, in these countries only 30% of Liver Cancers are diagnosed when surgery is a possible treatment option.

The overall worldwide Liver Cancer survival rates indicate that only 7% of Liver Cancer patients will be alive5 years after diagnosis. In cases where surgery is a possible option to remove the cancer, 75% will survive for 1 year, 50% for 3 years and 30% for 5 years.

Liver cancer survival rates
are highest with a liver transplant, as high as 75% for 5 years. However, the stage of the cancer when the transplant is done is important to determine the survival rate. Liver transplants at a metastatic stage of Liver Cancer do not offer any survival rate at all because sooner or later the cancer will spread from the other organs to the new liver.

Surgical resection is also reasonably successful when tumors are localized, giving patients a significant cancer survival rate, in some case as high as those of a liver transplant.   

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