Liver Cancer
Causes
The liver, located in the
abdomen, under the right side of the diaphragm, is the largest gland in your body. It plays important roles:
secretion of bile for digestion, controlling and storage of many sugars and fats, storing vitamins and
nutrients, filtering toxins in the blood, and synthesizing proteins essential for blood clotting. In addition,
the liver participates in the transformation and assimilation of many drugs in your body.
Liver cancer occurs when
there is a transformation of normal cells (hepatocytes) into malignant. The causes of liver cancer are not well
known; however, most of the times, the disease is caused by excessive consumption of alcohol and chronic liver
infections, particularly hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection.
In developing countries in
Asia and Africa, liver cancer is often the result of aflatoxin, a toxin that damages the liver, and prevents it
from neutralizing even small amounts of isopropyl alcohol. Aflatoxin is also a carcinogen; it can lead to liver
cancer. It is produced by various species of microscopic fungi (mycotoxins) that like to thrive on seeds
conserved in warm and humid; the two most common are Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus
parasiticus. Those mycotoxins are found primarily on bread, nuts, fruits, beer, wine vinegar, apple cider
and syrups.
Statistics
Risk Factors
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