Epidemiologic research does point to a link between alcohol consumption and certain types of cancers.  This link is dose-dependent: as alcohol consumption increases, so does the incidence of cancers.

Heavy and prolonged drinking of alcohol has been seen to be associated with the development of primary liver cancer.  However it is thought that this is mediated via the development of liver cirrhosis, which could also be related to chronic infection by hepatitis viruses, whether hepatitis B or C.

In Asia and Africa, liver cancer 50 people per 100,000 per year, and usually are related to chronic infection by hepatitis viruses.  In the United States, liver cancer is less common, about 2 people per 100,000.  However about 36 percent of these cases of liver cancer have a history of heavy alcohol consumption.  It is theorized that the heavy alcohol consumption hastens the development of liver cancer in patients with hepatitis C infection.

Early liver cancer symptoms may be be confined to just a feeling of discomfort below the lower ribs on the right side, usually to the front.  This discomfort may be constant or be there on and off.  It may be worsened on deep breathing or movement. Later there may be pain.

Slightly later liver cancer symptoms may come on because of pressure symptoms such as jaundice or deepening yellowness of the eyes, skin and tongue as a result of some obstruction of the bile ducts. 

There may be general symptoms of cancer experienced by the patient such as weight loss, anemia, tiredness.

Even later the symptoms are those due to spread of the liver cancer, such as bone pains due to spread to the ribs, arm and leg bones, or backache due to spead to the spine.  Headache may be due to spread to the brain.  The patient may cough due to spread to the lungs.  Sometimes he may complain of an increasing girth of his abdomen due to formation of ascitic fluid because of spread to the peritoneum or a failing liver causing low protein production.

Sometimes cancer of the liver may not be primary (i.e. arising from the liver) but secondary, that is, it is spread from elsewhere in the body to the liver.  The liver tends to be the ultimate organ to which veins from other parts of the body, especially the abdominal organs, drain, so this is a very common site for cancers arising from elsewhere in the body such as the stomach and intestines.  Thus you may find a person coming in with symptoms suggestive of a cancer elsewhere in the body, for example, bloody stools due to colonic cancer.

LIver cancer signs in the early stages are usually mild.  One may find some tenderness in the right lower ribs only.  In later stages other signs will be obvious, such as a mass palpable below the right lower ribs, jaundice, weight loss, generalised itchiness due to the jaundice, distended abdomen due to the ascites, swollen legs, etc.

Alternative Treatments For Cancer Include Acupuncture

Many cancer patients will at some point in time wonder if there are any alternative treatments for cancer.  These thoughts come
1. If one is experiencing intolerable side effects due to orthodox medical treatments
2. If one is faced with the potential for massive bills that are bound to be incurred in the process of trying to cure the cancer - from expensive investigations, from surgery, from radiation or from chemotherapy.
3. If one has been newly diagnosed with cancer and does not have faith in orthodox medicine, having heard horror stories of complications or side effects from the usage of orthodox treatment.
4. If one has gone through extensive treatments, and the doctors have given up hope and told the patient to go home and wait for his time.
5. If one has been diagnosed as having extensive cancer already long before any treatment options are discussed.

Practitioners of mainstream medicine do not believe that alternative treatments for cancer actually work to cure the cancer because, in their opinion, there is no scientific proof.  However it is believed that alternative medicine can help alleviate symptoms such as anxiety, nausea, lethargy, insomnia, pain and stress.  It is recommended that patients with cancer use alternative treatments for cancer as a supplement to their conventional methods of treatment, rather than as a substitute.

Broadly, the alternative treatments for cancer are:

Acupuncture
Aromatherapy
Biofeedback
Exercise
Hypnosis
Massage Therapy
Meditation
Music Therapy
Relaxation Technics
Tai Chi
Yoga

Chemotherapy Side Effects Include Baldness

Chemotherapy is one of the choices of treatment for liver cancer.  This involves the usage of chemicals that are supposed to interfere with the growth of the rapidly-multiplying cancer cells, both in the primary tumor itself as well as in areas where they may have spread, either through the blood stream, lymphatics draining the primary site, or by direct spread.

Usage of these chemotherapeutics or cytotoxics is not without risks and side effects.  Chemotherapy side effects will happen.  The body cells most often affected by the cytotoxics are the fast growing cells such as the cells in the bone marrow responsible for forming blood, hair follicles, cells in the mouth, digestive tract and reproductive organs. The most common chemotherapy side effects are nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, a feeling of lethargy and sickness, and abdominal discomfort. More disturbing side effects may be hair loss or thinning, which is usually temporary, mouth or gum ulcers or sores, anaemia, or sterility.  The skin may become dry and discolored.  Sometimes the side effects may be so intolerable that the patient may tend to consider alternative treatments.

Side effects do not affect everybody, and the degree of severity of side effects vary depending on the person.  Medications can be prescribed to control side effects to allow a more quality life.  Most times chemotherapy side effects are temporary.  It must be kept in mind that side effects have to be tolerated in order that one can achieve the full benefit of chemotherapy,  that is, to treat the cancer in order to prolong life.

Chemotherapy liver cancer is where one uses cytotoxics or anti-cancer drugs to kill off cancer cells in the liver.  They work by interfering with the growth of cancer cells.  As the drugs circulate in the blood, they kill off cancer cells wherever they are in the body.  Chemotherapy is used to help treat cancer whenever surgery is not possible, or as part of a treatment process together with surgery, or with radiotherapy, or with both.  The aim of this is to kill off residual cancer cells which may have been left behind, so that there is no recurrence.

Generally chemotherapy is given either in the form of oral medications or in a drip directly into the vein.  Another type of chemotherapy delivers the drugs directly into the liver.

Chemotherapy is usually given in a series of treatments every few weeks.  The few weeks in between treatments is to allow the body a chance to recover from whatever side effects may come on as a result of the chemotherapy.

The drugs most commonly given in chemotherapy liver cancer are:

Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)  
5FU (5-fluorouracil) 
Gemcitabine
Methotrexate
Cisplatin

whether singly or in combination.