Liver Cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma): Complications

The following are the most important diseases or complications that may be contributed to by hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatocellular carcinoma/liver cancer):

Liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts – Pancreas (pancreas) (K70-K77; K80-K87).

  • Hepatic insufficiency (dysfunction of the liver with partial or complete failure of its metabolic functions)/hepatic failure.
  • Complications of liver cirrhosis, eg.
    • Esophageal variceal hemorrhage; frequency of hemorrhage depending on Child-Pugh stage:
      • Child A cirrhosis: 20-40%.
      • Child C cirrhosis: – 85 %
    • Gastrointestinal bleeding (gastrointestinal bleeding).
    • Sepsis (blood poisoning)
    • Kidney failure

    For more see below liver cirrhosis / sequelae or complications.

Neoplasms – tumor diseases (C00-D48).

Metastasis occurs mainly in:

  • Lung
  • Lymph nodes

Less common are the following localizations:

  • Brain
  • Skin
  • Heart
  • Peritoneum (abdominal peritoneum) → ascites (abdominal dropsy).
  • Pleura (pleura)
  • Thyroid gland
  • Skeleton

Prognostic factors

  • Point system for determining survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: for this purpose, classification into immunological risk groups. One point is given in each case for a high concentration of CD8+ T cells or IL-33 in tumor tissue or liver tissue close to the tumor.Assessment: patients with two points had significantly longer survival than patients with one or no points. Classification:
    • 0 points: high risk
    • 1 point: medium risk
    • 2 points: low risk
  • Independent risk factors for late recurrence two years after resection:
    • Male gender
    • Cirrhosis of the liver
    • Tumor diameter > 5 cm
    • Macroscopic and microscopic vascular invasion by tumor cells.