Is primary liver cancer contagious?

Written by Sun Wei
Surgical Oncology
Updated on September 16, 2024
00:00
00:00

Primary liver cancer refers to malignant tumors that occur in the liver and are not metastasized from other parts of the body. Such liver cancer itself is not contagious. However, if liver cancer patients have other infectious diseases, transmission may be possible. Most primary liver cancers are related to liver cirrhosis following hepatitis, with hepatitis B being the most common. If accompanied by hepatitis B, it can be contagious, but it usually doesn't spread through regular daily contact. The main transmission routes for hepatitis B are through blood, mother-to-child transmission, and sexual transmission. This means that as long as the patient's blood does not injure someone else, contagion is generally unlikely, so there is no need for excessive worry.

Other Voices

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Yan Chun
Oncology
1min 2sec home-news-image

Does early-stage liver cancer cause itchy skin?

Liver cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in the digestive system. In the early stages of liver cancer, most patients do not exhibit symptoms of skin itching. It is only when the cancer progresses and causes obstructive jaundice that patients clinically develop symptoms of skin itching. Early-stage liver cancer patients typically do not show typical clinical symptoms, or they may not have any significant symptoms at all. This is because early-stage liver cancer lesions are small and localized, without external invasion or metastasis. Therefore, the impact on the entire body is minimal, and clinically it generally manifests as mild abdominal bloating, discomfort, nausea, diarrhea, and some patients may experience a dull ache or discomfort in the liver area. Because the symptoms of early-stage liver cancer are atypical, many patients are already in the middle to late stages by the time they seek medical attention, missing the opportunity for clinical cure.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Cui Fang Bo
Oncology
43sec home-news-image

Is the alpha-fetoprotein high in the early stage of liver cancer?

Patients with liver cancer may not necessarily have elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in the early stages. CEA, a commonly used tumor marker, tends to increase in various types of malignancies. However, an elevation in CEA is not necessarily linked to the occurrence of malignant tumors. Many patients with early-stage tumors, including liver cancer, may not have elevated CEA levels at diagnosis. Conversely, elevated CEA levels in some patients may be due to benign conditions and not necessarily indicate malignancy. Therefore, it is unreasonable to determine the presence of liver cancer solely based on the elevation of CEA.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Sun Wei
Surgical Oncology
50sec home-news-image

The difference between primary liver cancer and metastatic liver cancer

Primary liver cancer refers to malignant tumors that originate in the liver, while metastatic liver cancer refers to cancers that start in other parts of the body and then spread to the liver through lymphatic and blood circulation, among other routes. Another difference is that primary liver cancer is more likely to be a single lesion, while metastatic liver cancer generally involves multiple lesions. Regarding the differences between primary and metastatic liver cancer, their treatment methods also differ. For primary liver cancer, interventional chemotherapy or surgery, such as hepatic lobectomy, can be performed if the tumor is small. In contrast, metastatic liver cancer usually involves multiple lesions, making surgery alone challenging. Additionally, the primary tumor also requires treatment.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Yan Chun
Oncology
1min 8sec home-news-image

Can early-stage liver cancer be cured by resection?

Liver cancer is one of the common malignant tumors of the digestive system. For patients with early-stage liver cancer, clinical cure is possible after curative surgery. This clinical cure refers to instances where liver cancer patients, after undergoing curative surgery, do not show signs of recurrence or metastasis over a period exceeding five years. This means there is no invasion of surrounding tissues and no metastasis to distant organs – effectively, the patients have achieved clinical cure. Patients' survival time exceeds five years, or even longer. Therefore, for patients with early-stage liver cancer, because their lesions are relatively limited, achieving clinical cure is possible following curative surgery. However, as the disease progresses to the mid and late stages, even with aggressive surgery and postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy, most patients cannot achieve clinical cure.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Ye Xi Yong
Infectious Diseases
28sec home-news-image

Will "small three yang" lead to liver cancer?

Hepatitis B "minor three positives" refers to positivity in the first, fourth, and fifth items of the complete hepatitis B panel. It is common among patients with acute and chronic hepatitis B. There is no necessary correlation between "minor three positives" and cancer. While some patients with "minor three positives" may develop liver cancer, not all liver cancer patients necessarily progress from this condition, indicating no inevitable link between the two.