Liver tumors may not cause symptoms, but can lead to abdominal discomfort, changes in appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and jaundice. Symptoms may not appear until tumors grow, and can be mistaken for other conditions. A doctor’s evaluation is necessary to determine the cause of symptoms.
Liver tumors don’t always cause symptoms. When they do, however, symptoms can include a feeling of fullness in the abdominal area, as well as all-over discomfort or pain. Depending on the type of tumor involved, a patient may also experience changes in appetite and gastrointestinal distress. Some people also experience fatigue; swelling; weight loss; and yellowing of the eyes and skin, a condition known as jaundice. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that many people don’t experience any symptoms during the early stages of cancer development.
Often, a person with liver tumors is initially completely unaware of their existence. This is because liver tumors may cause no symptoms while being very small. When they initially start causing symptoms, people could easily mistake them for symptoms of other conditions. For example, loss of appetite may not cause alarm in many cases, and the weight loss that may accompany it is easy to attribute to having less appetite. As tumors grow, however, symptoms are more likely to develop, and a person may have a harder time attributing them to innocent causes.
When a person develops symptoms of liver cancer, they often experience changes in the way their abdominal area feels. For example, a person may have a feeling of fullness or notice discomfort or pain in the upper right side of the abdomen. Sometimes a person may also notice swelling in the liver area when they have a tumor.
Sometimes gastrointestinal changes and weight loss develop as symptoms of liver cancer. For example, a person who has liver cancer may have less appetite than usual and experience unexplained weight loss. In some cases, he may also face nausea and vomiting due to the tumor.
Other symptoms that may indicate liver cancer are fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell. Sometimes a person may also experience jaundice due to this condition. Jaundice is discoloration of the whites of the eyes and skin that makes them appear yellow.
Many of the symptoms of liver cancer are similar to those of other conditions. A doctor’s evaluation is needed to determine their cause. For this reason, a person is usually advised to see a doctor if he or she has lasting symptoms that could indicate the presence of cancer.
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