A Simple Guide to Hepatic Cancer, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Hepatic Cancer, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

Cancer you are a deadly disease
On our tissues you choose to feast
By staying in our bodies deep
And invading our organs you cowardly creep

You have taken mothers, daughters, brothers
Fathers, friends and life long lovers
We will fight back to give remedy
To bring back the immune harmony

Hope and Faith we must restore
For all victims who suffer the cancer foe
Help the body and soul join together
To seek peace and fight forever

The legions of the cancer cells with smirks on their faces
We must fight and strengthen each time you attack our bases
To ensure that your cancer existence will soon expire
And ensure our scarred body a good fight to inspire

As we continue this quest we have started
And remember those of us who have departed
So smirk and smile you killer of man
Enjoy your glory while you can

We will remove the smirk from your face
When you realize this is your final and only race
We have cornered you, your race is run
All our cells unite to finish what we have begun

We will fight to the death this awful scourge of man
And clobber this cowardly cancer in the end
We shall clobber this mutant beast
No more our flesh for you to feast

These were days filled with anger
Sad days to be in so much danger
As the days and months went on
Our cells started getting strong

And as we learned to cope
We discovered the meaning of hope.
And we have our friends and family to thank
You are all our angels so much our friend

An original poem by Kenneth Kee

Cancer is the top killer in Singapore and many countries.

It is therefore feared by many patients who equate cancer with death.

Now however with modern treatments and new advances, cancer can be prevented and successfully treated.

Primary liver cancer is a rare but serious type of cancer that starts in the liver and mostly affects older people.

Hepatic cancer happens when the cells in the liver undergo abnormal changes to form cancer cells.

In most cases, the cause of primary hepatic cancer is scarring of the liver (cirrhosis).

Cirrhosis (liver damage that can make scar tissue replace healthy tissue) may be caused by:
Alcohol abuse
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - a buildup of fat in the liver in obese people
Autoimmune diseases of the liver
Long-term hepatitis B or C - viruses that attack and damage the liver
Inflammation of the liver from exposure to toxins (alfatoxins, solvents, vinyl chloride, heroin)
Iron overload in the body (hemochromatosis)
Inherited liver diseases

Symptoms:
Unexplained weight loss
Nausea or vomiting
Feeling of fullness easily or not wanting to eat
Tiredness and weakness
Feeling of pain on the upper right abdomen or near the right shoulder
Swelling in the abdomen

In patients with raised AFP and consistent imaging features, patients can be diagnosed and treated presumptively for hepatic cancer without a biopsy

Liver transplant is the best treatment for patients with hepatic cancer.

The supply of good-quality deceased-donor organs is limited.

A small part of the liver of a living relative may be used.

Other treatments, such as resection, radiofrequency ablation (RFA); and possibly systemic therapy should be given to bridge patients to transplant or to delay recurrence if possible.

The most frequent therapy is called transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).

Targeted therapy such as kinase inhibitors is used in advanced unresectable liver cancer.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Hepatic Cancer
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Pancreatic Cancer
Chapter 8 C

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215888261

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Hepatic Cancer,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2023 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Hepatic Cancer, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Hepatic Cancer)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Hepatic Cancer

What is Hepatic cancer?

Primary liver cancer is a rare but serious type of cancer that starts in the liver and mostly affects older people.

Hepatic cancer happens when the cells in the liver undergo abnormal changes to form cancer cells.

Hepatic cancer is a tumor produced by malignant cells present in the liver.

There are 2 types of Hepatic cancer:

1. Primary cancer of the liver which develops from mutated hepatocytes (liver cells).

2. Secondary cancer of the liver is due to extension from the breast, lungs, stomach, colon, ovaries

What are the causes of Hepatic cancer?

Causes

The most frequent type of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which is responsible for about 75% of all patients.

Other forms of hepatic cancer are intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma and hepatoblastoma.

Primary hepatic cancer develops more often in men than women and present in people age 40 or older.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is different from metastatic hepatic cancer which starts in another organ (such as the breast or colon) and extends to the liver.

In most cases, the cause of primary hepatic cancer is scarring of the liver (cirrhosis).

Cirrhosis (liver damage that can make scar tissue replace healthy tissue) may be caused by:

1. Alcohol abuse

2. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - a buildup of fat in the liver in obese people

3. Autoimmune diseases of the liver

4. Long-term hepatitis B or C - viruses that attack and damage the liver

5. Inflammation of the liver that is long-term (chronic)

6. Iron overload in the body (hemochromatosis)

People infected with hepatitis B or C has a high risk of hepatic cancer, even if they do not develop cirrhosis.

Many of the risk factors for hepatic cancer are:

1. Hepatitis B infection.

2. Hepatitis C infection

3. Alcoholic liver disease (disease of the liver caused by heavy alcohol consumption).

4. Family history of hepatic cancer

5. Chemicals exposures such as hydrocarbons, nitrites, solvents, vinyl chloride

6. Poisons (e.g. aflatoxin present in some spoilt or moldy peanuts).

7. Inherited liver diseases (alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency)

8. Drug abuse e.g. heroin

9. Smoking

10. Liver diseases such as hereditary hemochromatosis (when excess iron is stored in the liver and other organs)

One main cause of cirrhosis in the U.S. is drinking large quantities of alcohol over many years.

Since cirrhosis can make the patient more likely to have hepatic cancer that indicates drinking heavily can make the patient more prone to get it.

If the patient is very overweight or has diabetes or a disorder called metabolic syndrome, the patient is at higher danger of getting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, leading to hepatic cancer.

Toxins increase the possibilities of hepatic cancer.

Some of these can cause hepatic cancer such as:

1. Aflatoxins: poisons made by molds that can grow on crops like corn and peanuts if they’re not stored the right way

2. Arsenic: a chemical that’s sometimes in well water

3. Thorium dioxide: a chemical that was once used for some X-rays and is not used anymore)

4. Vinyl chloride: a chemical used to make some kinds of plastics

Hepatic cancer is one of most dangerous cancer since the liver does detoxification for a lot of poisons in the body.

Once the liver is injured the organ can shut down together with the heart and brain.

Any hepatic cancer is dangerous and need to be treated urgently.

Liver transplant is still the best treatment for primary hepatic cancer if there is no spread.

Chemotherapy