What are the risk factors for liver cancer?
Liver cancer “is among the cancers with a poor prognosis ,” according to the French League Against Cancer. 11,660 new cases were recorded in France in 2023, and 76% of them involved men. It should be noted that this disease most often occurs in a liver already weakened by alcoholic cirrhosis or viral hepatitis.
Alcohol is the leading risk factor for liver cancer, accounting for 48% of new cases, according to the French National Cancer Institute (INCa). Tobacco use, hepatitis B and C, obesity and being overweight, hemochromatosis, fatty liver disease, and a sedentary lifestyle are also risk factors.
Liver cancer is often discovered during the monitoring of alcoholic cirrhosis or viral hepatitis. However, when it affects a healthy person, it is asymptomatic in most cases, which often leads to a delayed diagnosis. If it is a so-called “silent” cancer, symptoms may appear and vary depending on the stage, according to the Léon Bérard Cancer Center. These may include:
