Liver Cancer - Classification

Classification

There are many forms of liver cancer, although many cancers found in the liver are metastases from other tumors, frequently of the GI tract (like colon cancer, carcinoid tumors mainly of the appendix, etc.), but also from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer, etc.

The most frequent liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (also named hepatoma, which is a misnomer because adenomas are usually benign). This tumor also has a variant type that consists of both HCC and cholangiocarcinoma components. The cells of the bile duct coexist next to the bile ducts that drain the bile produced by the hepatocytes of the liver. Cancers that arise from the blood vessel cells in the liver are known as hemangioendotheliomas.

As well as mixed tumors, rarer forms of liver cancer include:

• mesenchymal tissue
• Sarcoma
• Hepatoblastoma, a rare malignant tumor, primarily developing in children. Most of these tumors form in the right lobe.
• Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancers), which account for 1 or 2 out of every 10 cases of liver cancer. These cancers start in the small tubes (called bile ducts) that carry bile to the intestine.
• Angiosarcoma and hemangiosarcoma: These are rare forms of cancer that start in the blood vessels of the liver. These tumors grow quickly. Often by the time they are found they are too widespread to be removed. Most patients do not live more than a year after diagnosis.
• Lymphoma of liver: A rare form of lymphoma that usually have diffuse infiltration to liver. It may also form a liver mass in rare occasions.