How to understand liver cancer in TCM

Chinese medicine does not have the name of liver cancer, but there are similar records. Primary liver cancer belongs to the category of stagnation, epigastric fullness, jaundice, abdominal distension and hypochondriac pain in traditional Chinese medicine. Ancient medical books are also called "fat qi", "mass qi" and "accumulated qi"

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the liver belongs to wood and the spleen belongs to soil, which is divided into two sides. The liver is the official of the general, responsible for draining and storing blood. Liver cancer is caused by internal injury of seven emotions, food fatigue, or invasion of pathogenic toxin, which leads to deficiency of qi and blood in viscera, spleen deficiency, qi stagnation, blood stasis, damp heat, phlegm toxin and so on. Hepatocellular carcinoma is located in the liver, and its pathogenesis is closely related to the spleen. With the progress of the course, the spleen will affect the functions of gallbladder, stomach and kidney.

There were no obvious clinical symptoms and signs about 1.5 years in the early stage. In recent years, asymptomatic early liver cancer can be found through alpha-fetoprotein screening. The late symptoms are as follows:

1. Gastrointestinal symptoms: The symptoms of this kind of liver cancer often accompany the whole course of liver cancer patients, and generally present various symptoms such as indigestion, loss of appetite, nausea and abdominal distension. It is easy to be mistaken for chronic enteritis, so it is necessary to check liver cancer in real time to prevent misdiagnosis.

2, emaciation and fatigue: the symptoms of advanced liver cancer are emaciation and fatigue, which can cause energy failure due to chaotic digestive function and stagnant nutrient absorption. In severe cases, it presents cachexia and affects health; Edema of lower limbs is also one of the late symptoms of liver cancer.

3. Malignant hydrothorax: Malignant hydrothorax is an important and malignant tumor disease. Its symptoms occur in the late stage of malignant hydrothorax of liver cancer. If it is not handled properly, it will lead to rapid deterioration of the condition and death. Therefore, patients should pay attention to regular liver cancer examination to avoid this situation.

4. Chest metastasis: There will be symptoms of chest metastasis in the late symptoms of liver cancer. Chest metastasis is more common on the right side, with symptoms of local tenderness or nerve compression and pleural effusion. At the same time, the symptoms of liver cancer are accompanied by bone or spinal metastasis, and intracranial metastatic cancer may have neurolocalization signs. These metastatic symptoms will show corresponding symptoms in the late stage of liver cancer.

5, respiratory disorders: dyspnea in the late symptoms of liver cancer is often caused by lung metastasis, severe dyspnea, easy to cause fear, if not treated in time, easy to cause sudden death.

6. Liver coma: Among the late symptoms of liver cancer, the last thing people want to see is liver coma. During the treatment of liver cancer, there will be gastrointestinal bleeding, secondary infection, a large number of diuretics, electrolyte imbalance, etc., which often cause liver coma, so liver cancer should pay special attention.