Liver and lung cancer are not closely related, but a person can have both types of cancer if lung cancer spreads to the liver. Primary liver cancer is less common than secondary liver cancer, and cancer cells from the liver can spread to the lungs. The risk factors for each type of cancer differ greatly.
Liver and lung cancer can develop independently of each other. A person can, however, have both of these types of cancer at the same time. This typically occurs when lung cancer spreads to the liver. In most cases, liver cancer is secondary cancer, meaning the disease is less likely to start in the liver and spread to the lungs. This can happen, though. The risk factors for liver and lung cancer are usually different, so the two types of cancer are not linked in this way.
There really isn’t a close relationship between liver and lung cancer. Essentially, this means that a diagnosis of lung cancer does not necessarily mean a person will develop liver cancer or vice versa. How these conditions are related has more to do with secondary cancer cases. For example, a person may develop a primary case of lung cancer, which means that the cancer originated in their lungs. Eventually, the cancer can spread to the liver, which is referred to as secondary cancer since it didn’t originate there.
If an individual has primary liver cancer, meaning the disease originates in the liver, the cancer can also spread to the lungs and other organs. Primary liver cancer is, however, less common than secondary liver cancer. With primary liver cancer, a person does not develop lung cancer at the same time they develop liver cancer. Instead, cancer cells from the liver travel to the lungs. Cancer cells spread through the patient’s lymph fluid or blood. Interestingly, doctors can tell whether cancer originated in the liver or lungs because liver cancer cells that make their way to the lungs still look and behave like liver cancer cells.
While it may seem logical that the relationship between liver and lung cancer includes risk factors, this is usually not the case. The primary risk factors for lung cancer differ markedly from the primary risk factors for liver cancer. For example, some primary risk factors for lung cancer include smoking, exposure to secondhand smoke, exposure to chemicals known to cause lung cancer, and a family history of this type of cancer. Some of the major risk factors for liver cancer, on the other hand, include chronic hepatitis infection, cirrhosis of the liver, heavy drinking, and hereditary conditions like Wilson’s disease. Also, men and the elderly are more likely than others to develop primary liver cancer.
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