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Childhood Obesity May Raise Odds of Adult Liver Cancer
Posted 20 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, April 20 – Adults who were obese as children are at increased risk for liver cancer, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at the birth weight and body-mass index (a measurement of body fat based on height and weight commonly called BMI) of more than 165,000 men and 160,000 women in Denmark born between 1930 and 1989. Of those participants, 252 developed hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer in adulthood. The study authors calculated that at age 7, the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma increased by 12 percent for every one-point increase in BMI. By age 13, that risk increased to 25 percent. Therefore, as units of BMI increased into adulthood, so did the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. This was consistently similar across both genders and all ages. Other factors associated with liver cancer include alcoholism, infection by ... Read more
Related support groups: Obesity, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Hepatic Tumor
Researchers Identify Liver Cancer Risk Factors
Posted 7 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Jan. 6 – Two new studies from the Mayo Clinic find that hepatitis C infection and obesity could be to blame for a surge in liver cancer cases, which have tripled over the last 30 years. Late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, has only a 10 percent to 12 percent five-year survival rate, according to figures in a Mayo news release. The researchers say their findings could help doctors diagnose the disease earlier and save lives. Both studies appear in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations to help catch the disease in its early, treatable stages," said Dr. W. Ray Kim, a gastroenterology and hepatology specialist and principal investigator of one study, in the release. The researchers examined several decades of medical information from the Rochester ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Hepatic Tumor
Clues to Preventing Return of Liver Cancer
Posted 29 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, June 29 – Antiviral therapy may halt or slow recurrence of liver cancer in patients with chronic hepatitis B and extend their lives, finds a new study. Previous research has shown that antiviral therapy reduces the incidence of liver cancer in such patients. This study looked at 15 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who underwent the local removal of a liver tumor known as a "single hepatocellular carcinoma" (HCC) that was less than four centimeters. HCC is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver. Six of the patients were diagnosed between 1991 and 1997, prior to the development of antiviral therapy. They were classified as historical controls. The other nine were diagnosed between 2000 and 2004 and began ongoing antiviral therapy with lamivudine immediately after HCC diagnosis. In some cases, patients were also prescribed other antiviral medications, such as ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatitis B, Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Hepatitis Infections Behind U.S. Rise in Liver Cancer
Posted 6 May 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, May 6 – A type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, is increasing in the United States, and health officials attribute much of the rise to untreated hepatitis infections. Chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C are responsible for 78 percent of hepatocellular carcinoma around the world. In the United States, as many as 5.3 million people have chronic viral hepatitis and don't know it, according to the May 6 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "The liver cancer rates are increasing in contrast to most other major forms of cancer," said Dr. John Ward, director of CDC's viral hepatitis division and co-author of the report. Viral hepatitis is a major reason for the increase, he said. The rate of hepatocellular carcinoma increased from 2.7 per 100,000 persons in 2001 to 3.2 in 2006 – an average annual increase of ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, Hepatocellular Carcinoma