Liver Cancer, Essay Example

Liver cancer is a disease, which is mostly affecting men. This is because men tend to smoke and drink more. Theliver is the largest organ in the body, which helps the body to process nutrients and fight off infections. When it is affected it will cause a lot of problems in the body as the body will be affected. This is because there will be no cells to fight backany infection. In addition, the liver produces clotting factors, which helps the blood to clot properly after an injury or a cut. Many types of tumors or cancer contaminate liver since the liver has a number of cells, which performs differentfunctions. Tumors do not cause any pain or discomfort, but it should be removed if the blood loss or stomach pain beginsto occur.

Liver cancer is caused by excessive use of tobacco and alcohol. This is because scarring of the tissue occursbecause of excessive alcohol abuse. Men who are suffering from hepatitis are having great risk they can be affected by liver cancer anytime (Trotti & Rubbin 2003, p. 180). This is because hepatitis weakens liver, which will lead to easierformation of cancer. Men who are using anabolic steroids are at a risk where they can contract cancer. This mostly affectsthe men athletes because they use the drug to increase their athletic performances. Currently, liver transplant or surgery to remove the tumor is the only ways that have been proved as the effective ways to eliminate liver cancer. After removingall visible cancer through surgery, the risk of developing cancer again will reduce. In addition, there will be greaterchances of survival after the removal of all visible cancer. Liver cancer is also treated by Radiation ablation or therapy. This is where the tumors are destroyed without being removed.

From an interview, I learned that it is very important to prevent liver cancer than curing it. This is because after being affected by liver cancer one should undergo surgery or receive an organ transplanted from someone else. This is a risk process as someone might develop other problems after the surgery or even the surgery might fail to work. Livercancer can be prevented by avoiding smoking and drinking alcohol. It is better to be attending frequent checkups to knowyour status about liver cancer. In the process of frequent checkups, liver cancer can be detected treated at an early stage. This is because when liver cancer has gone to chronic stages it will be difficult to deal with it. From an interview, theinterviewee did not realize that he had liver cancer. It was realized after it had gone to chronic stages, which it has beendifficult for the interviewee to treat it. It is difficult to maintain liver cancer at a chronic stage. This is because it will be expensive in terms of treatment and even food administered to the patient (Trotti & Rubbin 2003, p. 98).

The issue of liver cancer is related to men specifically. This is because there are many men who are smokers anddrinkers. Because of drinking and smoking, they will be the most affected as compared to women. In most of our cultures,only men were allowed to drink and smoke. It was very rare to get a woman drinking or even smoking. This is why mostmen are affected by liver cancer. Liver cancer is frequently affecting many people all over the world. This is because it is not realized at an early stage for early treatments. Liver cancer is, detected when it has gone to a chronic stage and it will be difficult to manage it. In addition, most people do not respond to the needs of knowing personal status about livercancer. If everyone could be visiting the hospital after a given time to know the status, it would be easy as I could be detected and treated at an earlier stage.

The rate at which men are affected by liver cancer is a third higher than the rate at which women are affected. According to the study, which was carried out in the year, 2010 in United Kingdom, for every 100000 men 202 weresuffering from liver cancer. This is compared to the 100000 women where only 147 were affected by cancer. It was notedthat 58% of men in the working class who were under 65years were likely to die from liver cancer. In United Kingdom, 82500 men are losing their lives in every year because of liver cancer.

From an interview, I learned that important for people to know the dangers caused by liver cancer and how it can be prevented. This can be done through organization of seminars and trainings both in urban and rural areas. Peopleshould be taught about the signs of liver cancer. This will assist them know how they can observe the signs such that theycan seek for medications at early stages. The causes of liver cancer should be made public. This will enable everyone to know its causes and they will try to avoid them. For example alcohol, smoking, steroids used by the athletes are thecommon causes of liver cancer. All these should be explained to the public such that they can be aware and try to avoidsuch drugs and drinks. Free checkups should be organized in public places for people to know their status. This is becauseother people are not attending the checkups in hospitals because of higher payments demanded by the specialists (Stetz & Curran 2000, p. 105).

There are many and different effects of liver cancer on our health. The effects include emotional, social, andphysical effects. The effects are determined by the stage of the cancer, age of the patient, location and even the interactive environment. To understand all these, it is better for the patient to discuss with the doctor the possible effects before thestart of the treatment. This will be better because it will enable the patient and the caregivers to manage the state. After treatment of liver cancer, the disease might recur after some time. In addition, the patient should go for treatment followup. This will enable the patient to be checked frequently on how he/she is progressing. The results of the checkups will enable the doctor to recommend more treatment or how the patient should be taken care of.

Some of the symptoms include yellow skin, itching and some pain in the live, getting dizzy, vomiting, and manyothers. The patient should visit the doctor frequently as recommended by a specialist. In addition, in case of anycomplication before the recommended date the patient can visit a doctor (Alexiou & Luebbe 200, p. 162). Liver cancercan be prevented by avoiding drinks like alcohol, smoking, and using the steroids. The treatment strategies includesurgery, liver transplant, and the process of killing the tumors without surgery. Prognosis is a medical term wherebysomeone’s outcomes are predicted from the outlook. The poor people can use this as they will have been taught about thesymptoms and signs of the disease. This will be the easiest way to detect the disease, as they might not afford to pay theexpenses. More specialist treatments and advices can be got from the specialist of liver cancer other liver diseases. Theseare the best people to offer some advices.

References

Alexiou, C. & Luebbe, A. S. (2000). Locoregional cancer treatment with magnetic drug targeting. Cancer research,60(23), 6641-6648.

Stetz, J.& Curran, W. (2000). Common toxicity criteria: version 2.0. an improved reference for grading the acute effects of cancer treatment: impact on radiotherapy. International Journal of Radiation Oncology* Biology* Physics, 47(1), 13-47.

Trotti, A. & Rubin, P. (2003, July). CTCAE v3. 0: development of a comprehensive grading system for the adverse effects of cancer treatment. In Seminars in radiation oncology (Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 176-181). WB Saunders.