What’s the Difference Between Metastatic Liver Cancer and non-Metastatic Liver Cancer?

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was diagnosed with liver cancer.

I’d talked about metastatic breast cancer of the liver (http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2011/12/metastatic-breast-cancer-liver-cancer.html), but with this grim diagnosis, I wanted to look more closely at the differences – if any.

In brief, metastatic breast cancer in the liver (MBC:L) comes from the transfer of breast cells to the liver and then the growth of tumors there. Most often treated with hormone, chemo and radiation therapies, there are newer choices as well, including liver resection.

With the diagnosis of non-MBC liver cancer, my friend also has complications. Regarding these complications, it has been “...shown that cancer is…common…for [this  kind of complication]. The authors attributed this to overlooked symptoms, such as blood in the urine or stool, and delayed treatment because of complications…The most common cancer...is hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer.”

Hepatocellular carcinoma, also called HCC, develops like any other cancer by a mutation to the cellular machinery that makes the cell divide faster than normal and/or gives the cell a sort of “immortality” by keeping itself from ever dying. This wild growth of cells form tumors and the tumors ruin the normal balance of chemistry in the liver. This leads to many different symptoms: abdominal pain, jaundice, bloating, loss of appetite, nausea and proteins in the blood that aren’t supposed to be there.

The short answer to the question above is that there isn't any real difference between MBC:L and HCC. Both are mutated cells run wild. In MBC, the cells running wild originated in breast tissue. In HCC, the cells running wild originated in the liver.

There are many treatments available for both MBC:L and HCC and while there is a constant search for new methodology, in the long run, whether the cancer originated in metastatic breast cells or in the liver itself, the prognosis continues to depend on how much the cancer has spread and how quickly it is treated. The main difference is that MBC:L cells can also be treated with tamoxifen (which affects estrogen levels) the same as any other breast cancer cells. HCC is not treated that way.

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatocellular_carcinoma
Images: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Hepatocellular_carcinoma_intermed_mag.jpg/220px-Hepatocellular_carcinoma_intermed_mag.jpg