Metastases in the liver. How can you recognize?
Metastasis is a secondary malignant tumor that can appear in almost any organ. Metastases in the liver can affect one or several sites of the body. They develop quickly and can in a short time significantly disrupt the functioning of the liver.
Why are the metastases?
Cancerous tumors behave in the human body quite aggressive. Tumor cells from primary malignancies spread through the blood and lymph and settle in any organ. As you increase their numbers they produce growth factors that allow them to multiply faster and faster, forming a new tumor.
Why often the metastases are formed in the liver?
Metastasis to the liver is typical for most tumors. This occurs most often in the following primary tumors:
- Cancer of the stomach and esophagus,
- Colon cancer,
- Lung cancer,
- Melanoma.
Because of the peculiarities of blood circulation, the liver would like attracts "bad" cells. The main function of the liver cleaning the body of toxins, so it is a lot of blood. Every minute, the liver passes 1.5 liters of blood. In the sinusoids (liver is a special structure), the blood flow slows down. It creates favorable conditions for tumor cells to have settled and began to breed. In this case, quite often observed multiple metastases in the liver.
Manifested as liver metastases?
Common symptoms of the presence of a malignant tumor in the body, decreased performance, weakness, weight loss.
Symptoms of liver metastases:
- Nausea, vomiting,
- Enlargement of the liver,
- The formation of a large number of spider veins on the face,
- Skin itching,
- Gray face,
- A feeling of heaviness, pressure and pain in the right hypochondrium,
- Pain when breathing,
- Fever,
- Palpitations,
- Disorder of the intestine,
- Bleeding
- Jaundice,
- Dilation of superficial veins of the abdomen,
- Ascites (accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity).
What is their danger?
Liver function is quite diverse:
- Providing the body with glucose,
- Treatment and storage of fat-soluble vitamins,
- The formation of protein and lipid molecules, hormones and enzymes
- Production and secretion of bile.
Because metastases interfere with the normal functioning of the liver imagine how soon problems arise in the body. The tumor may arise an emergency situation that requires immediate surgery, for example, compression of the inferior Vena cava.
Methods of treatment
Unfortunately, the formation of metastases in the liver signifies a rather poor prognosis. A large number of patients die about a year after they had found metastases in that organ. More recently, the detection of such metastases was considered a basis for denial of treatment at all due to the low impact.
Modern medicine offers the following methods of treatment of liver metastases:
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Surgery.
Chemotherapy for the liver metastases
The chemotherapy drugs are injected directly into the liver via a catheter through the blood vessels. This therapy can slow the tumor growth, in some cases to eliminate small tumors. However, this method has many unpleasant consequences. Patients in this treatment deteriorating health, loss of hair, dizziness, frequent nausea and vomiting. Therefore, the chemotherapy is carried out as part of a comprehensive treatment with a mandatory restorative procedures.
Radiation therapy
Modern methods of treatment allow to irradiate directly onlythe tumor without harming healthy tissue. The drug containing radioactive elements, is placed directly in the body of the tumor and allows to slow its growth or even significantly reduce the size.
Surgery
Surgery to remove the tumor or part of the liver can hold only 20% of cases of the cancer in the liver. As a rule, surgery can extend a patient's life and help ease some of the symptoms of the disease.
How to eat right?
Any treatment, especially cancer treatment, is accompanied by certain rules of supply. The diet for liver metastases is ongoing, it involves food in small portions.
What you need to eliminate?
- Canned foods
- Alcohol
- Carbonated drinks
- Fat meat,
- Fried and smoked food
- Foods that contain artificial additives.
What should be the diet?
- Lean fish
- Fruits, vegetables,
- Only natural products.
Diet for liver metastases should be spared (thus limited fats) and to provide the body with sufficient protein to maintain his work.
Folk remedies
Treatment of metastases in the liver folk remedies can bring some relief and even reduce the size of tumors. Of course, you cannot refuse the treatment prescribed by the attending physician, and be sure to consult with him about the use of traditional medicine.
These funds primarily grass. One of the most commonly used herbs in Oncology is the celandine. The substances contained in the plant, inhibit tumor formation. For the treatment make infusions and decoctions of the celandine, and charges its content. Folk medicine also recommends for combating tumors the potato flowers, leaves, mistletoe, marigold, stinging nettle. A lot of positive feedback about the treatment of juices, in this case carrot and beet.
Despite the adverse predictions of liver metastases should still believe in a better outcome and to do everything possible for that.