Liver cancer, the growth of tumors in the liver, is among the common cancers with over 700,000 new cases reported in one year alone. The major reason for the incidence of this dreadful cancer is identified as liver infection of Hepatitis B or C virus. A scary finding by Hepatitis Australia shows that for every person dying of liver cancer in Australia, there is a new person diagnosed with the disease. With cases that lead to death increasing in an alarming rate, medical world is taking more efforts to tackle this disease. Here is a look at some of the facts about liver cancer.
Prevalence is more among men and old people: Liver cancer is observed to be more prevalent in men than in women, and it tends to be found more in old people. More than 80% of all reported liver cancer cases are in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
One of the major causes is Hepatitis infection: Cirrhosis, where scar tissues replace healthy tissues in the liver, is considered as one of the major causes of liver cancer. This is brought about by chronic alcohol use, persistent viral infections, and certain auto immune diseases. Long term hepatitis B infection (often undetected) is cited as a major cause of cirrhosis by experts. A lot of liver cancer cases are due to smoking, diabetes and obesity. Exposure to aflatoxins, arsenic, vinyl chloride, etc are also considered as potent causes for the disease.
Read more...
No comments:
Post a Comment