Sept. Is Liver Cancer Awareness Month

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Sept. Is Liver Cancer Awareness Month
http://www.mb.com.ph
By CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO

The month of September has been declared as Liver Cancer Awareness Month to raise public awareness on the life-threatening illness and to emphasize the importance of the early detection of one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the country.

According to the Department of Health (DoH) and the Philippine Cancer Society (PCS), more than 5,000 new cases of liver cancer are diagnosed every year. An average of 4,000 annual deaths have also been recorded.

Experts said liver cancer is the third most common form of cancer among men and the sixth among women. Risk factors for liver cancer include cirrhosis, which is a major predisposing factor; toxin exposure; viral or parasitic infections; and Hepatitis B or C infections.

The DoH and the PCS said alcohol abuse is one of the major causes of cirrhosis. "The prevention of liver cancer associated with alcohol abuse continues to be a challenge to the typical Filipino’s level of self-control," they said.

They said regular health monitoring is important to detect liver cancer which usually has no symptoms in its early stages.

Common symptoms which appear at a time when the disease has progressed include weight loss, malaise or weakness, loss of appetite, pain in the upper right abdominal area, limb weakness, swelling, jaundice, and ascites or the build-up of fluid in the abdominal cavity.