 | | | | | Liver Cancer More info on this condition | |
| | | Risk Factors | | | | | Although environmental, gender and racial factors have been linked to primary liver cancer, the main risks for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma are hepatitis and cirrhosis.
Those infected with chronic hepatitis B face a 140-fold increased risk of contracting hepatocellular carcinoma. When the tumor develops, the patient has typically had chronic hepatitis B for three or four decades. Hepatitis B can be prevented with a vaccine. Health-care workers who come into contact with blood or blood products or intravenous drug users are at high risk for hepatitis B.
Cirrhosis of the liver (a disease in which the liver is covered by fiber-like tissue) also accounts for an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Cirrhosis, caused by both alcohol abuse and hepatitis, has been linked to the development of liver cancer.
Infection by the hepatitis C virus can induce cirrhosis and also lead to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Other factors linked to hepatocellular carcinoma include exposure to aflatoxins (poisons made by food mold), mutations of the tumor suppressor gene p53, the use of oral contraceptives, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, and diabetes and insulin intake.
A small number of tumors develop in patients with diseases including alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency (a lack of the liver protein alpha1-antitrypsin), tyrosinemia (in which too much of the amino acid tyrosine is found in the blood and urine) and hemochromatosis ("iron-overload" disease).
Tumor growth is also associated with clonorchiasis (parasites), vinyl chloride exposure (a chemical used to make plastics) and administration of thorium dioxide (given before X-rays to highlight the bodily structures) or methotrexate.
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