What is the natural history of liver cancer?
The natural history of liver cancer depends on the stage of the tumor and the severity of associated liver disease (for example, cirrhosis) at the time of diagnosis. For example, a patient with a 1 cm tumor with no cirrhosis has a greater than 50% chance of surviving three years, even without treatment. In contrast, a patient with multiple tumors involving both lobes of the liver (multicentric tumors) with decompensated cirrhosis (signs of liver failure) is unlikely to survive more than six months, even with treatment. What are the predictors of a poor outcome? Our knowledge of the prognosis is based on studying many patients with liver cancer, separating out their clinical characteristics, and relating them to the outcome. Grouped in various categories, the unfavorable clinical findings include; • Population characteristics (demographics); male gender, older age, or alcohol consumption. • Symptoms; weight loss or decreased appetite. • Signs of impaired liver function; jaundice, ascite
