Our Today’s Blog will guide you everything about Liver cancer Stages. Liver Cancer is something we are all aware of. Long-term alcoholics are always made aware to lower their consumption as heavy alcoholism is associated with the risk of getting a liver cancer. Cancer patients often hear of the term “stage”. Doctor’s stage the cancer level according to the diagnosis results and the staging is figured out by finding how far cancer has spread. The same thing goes on with liver cancer. The stage of the liver cancer or any other type of cancer determines the seriousness of cancer and points the approach doctor’s need to take to treat it. In this blog, we will mostly discuss the stages of liver cancer and treatments associated with them.

How Have Lung Cancer Stages been determined by Doctor?

The doctors use different staging systems to determine the size and position of liver cancer and how well the liver is working. The TNM (Tumor, node, metastasis) system, number staging system determines the size and position of the liver cancer. The doctors use BCLC (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer) staging system and the Child-Pugh System to decide the treatment by figuring out the wellness of the liver. As a rule, the lower the liver cancer stage number, the less cancer has spread and the higher the stage of Liver cancer, more the patient is into the incurable state.

The TNM System:

  • ‘T’ Stands for Tumor: The doctors check the extent to which cancer has grown, the number of tumors, and to which extent it has spread.
  • ‘N’ Stands for Nodes: They check if cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
  • Metastasis:  The doctors also check whether cancer has spread to distant organs such as the bones/lungs or not.

The Numbering System of Stages of Liver Cancer:

The numbering system divides liver cancer into numbered stages such as stage 1, stage 2, stage 3.

The BCLS Staging System and the Child-Pugh Score:

The BCLS staging system measures the performance status of the liver.  It also looks at the number and size of tumors in the liver. There are 5 stages determined by this system (The Child-Pugh score is used):

Lung cancer stages

  1. Stage 0 determines that the tumor is less than 2 cm and the person is well and good. It shows that the liver is functioning normally. Child-Pugh score A is tagged to this stage which means the liver is normal.
  2. Stage A determines that the tumor is less than 5 cm or there are up to 3 tumors measuring less than 3 cm. In this stage, the person is fine and the liver works properly and is tagged with a Child-Pugh class A or B.
  3. Stage B determines there are many tumors, but the person still feels well, and the liver is working fine. (Child-Pugh class A or B is associated with this stage as well).
  4. Stage C determines that cancer has spread to blood vessels, lymph nodes or other organs of the body. The person does not feel very well in this stage, but the liver still works well enough to the expected level.
  5. Stage D determines that the liver is damaged seriously, and the person is not well and needs to be taken care of. The child Pugh class C is associated with this stage.

Details Related to the Child-Pugh Score:

The Child-Pugh score determines the class in which people fall:

  •       Class A– Liver is working fine.
  •       Class B– The liver is moderately ill and may require surgery.
  •       Class C– The liver is extremely ill, and the outlook is then quite poor. People falling into this class are too sick to be cured.

What does the Child-Pugh system look at, to tell how well the liver is working?

The Child-Pugh system looks at the following things to determine the wellness of the liver:

  • Bilirubin levels in the blood
  • Albumin levels in the blood
  • Prothrombin time (the quickness in blood clotting)
  • Whether the fluid is collected in the abdomen or not.
  • Brain functionality

The staging systems we have mentioned have not been compared with each other. In different countries, doctors use different staging systems, and some are used more than others. And there is no single staging system that is used by all doctors. You can always ask your doctor about the staging system he/she uses to determine the liver cancer stage.

The Treatments Used:

The treatment depends on the stage of the liver cancer and the following things:

  • The type of cells in which cancer has begun.
  • The area in which the cancer is.
  • And your health condition.

Mostly stages of liver cancer is treated with surgeries that include either transplant or removal of part of the liver. The surgery is done only when the cancer is confined to the liver area and has not spread. Other treatments include radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

There is another Liver cancer treatment which is popular in homeopathic treatments called immunotherapy. While chemotherapy can be painful, immunotherapy is not. It is a good choice and its popularity is increasing as it uses your immunity to fight the disease. Immunotherapy takes time to make you overcome the disease but with time you will get better results.

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