My friend died from liver cancer?

my friend just died from liver cancer and i want to know wat was the cause. (she smoked and drinked)

she was 75 and was a teacher

Liver Cancer:

What Is Liver Cancer?

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. It lies under the right ribs, just beneath the right lung and diaphragm (the membrane below the lungs that moves up and down as you breathe). If you were to poke your fingers up under your right ribs, you would almost be touching your liver.

The liver is shaped like a pyramid and is divided into right and left lobes. Unlike most other organs, the liver receives blood from 2 sources. The hepatic artery supplies the liver with blood that is rich in oxygen. The portal vein carries nutrient-rich blood from the intestines to the liver.

The liver performs several vital functions. It processes and stores many of the nutrients absorbed from the intestine. It also makes some of the clotting factors needed to stop bleeding from a cut or injury. And it secretes bile into the intestine to help absorb nutrients. The liver also plays an important part in removing toxic wastes from the body.

Because the liver is made up of several different types of cells, several types of tumors can form in the liver. Some of these are cancerous and some are benign (not cancerous). These tumors have different causes and are treated differently. The outlook for your health or recovery depends on what type of tumor you have.

Benign Tumors

Hemangioma (he-man-ge-O-muh) is the most common type of benign liver tumor. It starts in blood vessels. Because most of these tumors don鈥檛 cause symptoms, they do not need treatment, although some may bleed and need to be removed by surgery.

Hepatic adenomas (huh-pat-ic ad-uh-noh-muhs) are benign tumors that start from the main type of liver cells (hepatocytes). Again, most do not cause symptoms and do not need treatment. However, if they cause stomach pain, a mass in the abdomen, or blood loss, they may need to be removed. Women have a much higher chance of having one of these tumors if they take birth control pills, although this is rare. Stopping the pills can cause the tumor to shrink. Men who use anabolic steroids (鈥渟teroids鈥? may also develop these. They can also shrink when the drugs are stopped.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (hy-per-play-zuh), or FNH, is a tumor-like growth of several cell types. Although FNH tumors are benign, it can be hard to tell them apart from true liver cancers. If there are symptoms, the tumor can be removed.

Malignant Tumors

While there are other types of liver cancer, the most common form in adults is called hepatocellular carcinoma (huh-pat-uh-CELL-u-lar car-sin-o-muh).It begins in the hepatocytes, the main type of liver cell. About 3 out of 4 primary liver cancers are of this type. Most of the information in this article refers to hepatocellular cancer.

This type of cancer can have different growth patterns. Some begin as a single tumor that grows larger. Only late in the disease does it spread to other parts of the liver.

A second type of liver cancer begins in many spots throughout the liver and is not confined to a single tumor. This is most often seen in people with liver cirrhosis and is the most common pattern seen in the United States.

Doctors can identify several subtypes of hepatocellular cancer by looking at tissue under a microscope. The most important is called fibrolamellar. This subtype, which is rare, has a better outlook (prognosis) than other forms of liver cancer.

Cholangiocarcinomas account for 1 or 2 out of every 10 cases of liver cancer. These cancers start in the small bile ducts, tubes that carry bile to the gallbladder. Although the rest of the information here covers hepatocellular cancers, cholangiocarcinomas are often treated the same way.

Most of the time when cancer is found in the liver, it did not start there but spread to the liver from a cancer that began somewhere else in the body. These tumors are named after the place where they began (primary site) and are further described as metastatic For example, cancer that started in the lung and spread to the liver is called metastatic lung cancer with spread to the liver.

Smoking and drinking sure as heck didn't help, but it could have been something else entirely - exposure to environmental toxins, radiation, or just having the bad luck to be born with a "genetic time bomb" that would give her liver cancer at a certain age. Sorry to hear about your loss.

probably both, the liver filters toxins out of the body, but a nonsmoker/non drinker can die of liver cancer too. It happens honey and understanding it won't make it better. Just accept and live the best life you can.

Its hard to say really.How old was your friend? I know that liquor & medicine can break down the liver but I think it could be genetic also.Im so sorry to hear of your loss.

its smoking that gives cancer, drinking gives liver disease, my grandpa died from drinking, he was a big time alcoholic, he was so messed up, i remember he died in july,14,2002, im so sorry about yur friend, let her R.I.P