Cancer Types – Liver Cancer
Liver Cancer: Overview
About the liver
The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. It plays a key role in the digestion of food. No one can live without a liver. Liver functions include:
- Collecting and filtering blood from the intestines
- Processing and storing needed nutrients absorbed by the intestines
- Converting some nutrients into energy or into substances needed to repair and build tissue
- Producing some of the body’s blood-clotting factors
- Removing toxins from the body
- Helping maintain the proper sugar level in the body
About liver cancer
Cancer begins when healthy cells change and grow out of control, forming a mass called a tumor. A tumor can be cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor is malignant, meaning it can grow and spread to other parts of the body. A benign tumor means the tumor can grow but will not spread.
This section only provides information about cancer that begins in the liver. This is known as primary liver cancer.
It is more common for cancer that started in another part of the body to spread to the liver. This is not liver cancer, but rather “metastatic cancer” of another organ. For instance, pancreatic, colon, stomach, breast, lung, or other cancer that has spread to the liver is still named according to the organ in which it started. For more information about cancer that started in another part of the body and has spread to the liver, read about that specific cancer type.
Types of adult primary liver cancer
There are a number of types of primary liver cancer that occur in adults. They are named for the type of cell from which the cancer develops.
| Type of Liver Cancer | Description | How Common |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) | Hepatocellular carcinoma can have different growth patterns. Some spread tentacle-like growths through the liver. This pattern is the most common one in the United States. Some start as a single tumor that spreads to other parts of the liver as the disease develops. Others develop as nodules at several different places in the liver. Occasionally, a pattern isn’t clear. | Approximately 80% of adult primary liver cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas. |
| Cholangiocarcinoma, also called bile duct cancer | A cholangiocarcinoma develops from cells in the bile duct of the liver. The bile duct is a thin tube that extends from the liver to the small intestine. The bile duct starts inside the liver as several smaller tubes that join together. | About 10% to 20% of adult primary liver cancers are cholangiocarcinomas. |
| Angiosarcoma | Angiosarcoma starts in the blood vessels of the liver and grows very quickly. | About 1% of adult primary liver cancers are angiosarcomas. |
The rest of this section provides information on the most common type of adult primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). For information about bile duct cancer and angiosarcoma, use the links in the chart above.
Read more about liver cancer here.