Globally, cancer of the colon is the third leading cause of cancer in males and the fourth leading cause of cancer in females. Cancer of the colon is a disease of the large intestine, where the waste material is stored. The reason for the high mortality rate is that people with colon cancer often have no symptoms at all, especially in the early stages.
While liver cancer has a comparatively small number of cases in Europe, it is one of the leading death causes in other parts of the world (e.g. Japan). Without treatment the prognosis is poor (almost all patients die within 6 months). If the liver or parts of it are removed, up to 50% of the patients are still alive 5 years after the diagnosis.
Some people are more likely to develop colon cancer than others. The risk of intestine cancer is growing significantly in industrial countries and among people at the age of 50 (although recent studies show that some cancers like colon and liver cancer are affecting also those at a younger age).
Apart from genetic causes there are also inherited diseases which can result in intestinal cancer. The most common factors for the increased risk include a high fat intake, a family history of colon or liver cancer, polyps in the large intestine as well as chronic ulcerative colitis.
or hepatic cancer is properly conisidered to be a cancer which starts in the liver as apposed to cancer which originates in another organ and migrates to the liver, known as a liver metastasis. The most frequent form of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma, sometimes in combination with cholangiocarcinoma.
Worldwide, this carcinoma is one of the top five types of cancer. It occurs more often in men than in women. It is usually seen in people aged 50-60 and is more common in Africa and Asia than in America or Europe. This is due to the fact, that liver cancer is often caused by chronic infections of the liver, especially hepatitis B and C, which are more common in Africa and Asia.
Treatment of liver cancer often requires total or partial hepatectomy, chemo- or radiotherapy or liver transplantation.
There is currently
no effective screening test for liver cancer. Screening trials using ultrasound, computed tomography and blood tests are ongoing.