Early liver metastasis may have no obvious symptoms and signs, and in the late stage, its symptoms and signs are similar to those of primary liver cancer, but due to the absence of liver cirrhosis, it often develops more slowly than the latter and the symptoms are lighter. The specific examination methods for this disease are as follows.
One, Liver Function
Secondary liver cancer in the subclinical stage often has no enzymatic abnormalities, and those with clinical manifestations are often accompanied by elevated ALP, GGT, but are not helpful for the direct diagnosis of liver metastasis. Even if the liver is significantly enlarged, liver function can be normal or slightly abnormal. Severe cases may have serum bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (AKP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and γ-glutamyl transferase and other enzymes are elevated, among which AKP is often significantly elevated and has a significant meaning for the diagnosis of liver metastasis.
Two, Tumor Marker Detection
1, serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP):90% or more of patients with liver metastatic cancer have negative AFP, but a few from gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and reproductive腺 cancers can be detected with low concentration AFP positive after liver metastasis.
2, serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA): The increase of CEA is helpful for the diagnosis of liver metastasis, and the positive rate of CEA in liver metastasis from colorectal cancer is as high as60%.70%. In patients with cancer metastasizing to the liver from primary sites in the gastrointestinal tract, breast, and lung, the serum CEA can significantly increase.
3, CA19-9: It often increases when pancreatic cancer metastasizes to the liver.
Three, Liver Virus Markers Detection
The detection of serum hepatitis B virus markers in patients with this disease is mostly negative.
Four, Imaging Examinations
There are B-ultrasound, CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), etc., these examinations are basically non-invasive and can be repeated as needed. It should not be easily excluded based on the absence of positive findings from a single or one-time examination. Ultrasound imaging often shows enhanced echoes. CT shows mixed uneven density or low density, with a typical 'cattle's eye' sign, usually without signs of liver cirrhosis. MRI examination of liver metastasis often shows uniform signal intensity, clear edges, multiple lesions, and a few show 'target' sign or 'halo' sign, B-ultrasound and CT examination can show multiple scattered or solitary solid masses in the liver, and both can detect nodules with a diameter of1~2cm or more of cancer.
Five, Special Examinations
According to the detection of selective hepatic angiography, the lower limit of lesion diameter can be detected as1cm, and ultrasound imaging is about2cm. Therefore, early liver metastasis often presents as negative, and positive results appear only when it reaches a certain size, and in patients with clinical manifestations, the positive rate of various localization diagnostic methods can reach70%.90%, selective peritoneal or hepatic arteriography often shows hypovascular tumors.
1, angiography: Selective hepatic arteriography can often show hypovascular tumor nodules, and it can detect nodules with a diameter of1cm or more of tumor.
2, liver biopsy: Fine needle liver biopsy under B-ultrasound or CT guidance can help clarify the diagnosis and find the primary cancer, but this method may cause intraperitoneal hemorrhage and should be noted.
3, radioactive isotope imaging: Over2The liver metastasis with a diameter of 0.0 cm is not visible on the radioactive isotope imaging with sulfur-containing colloids, and it should be noted that this technique has a high sensitivity but also a high rate of false positives.
4, laparoscopic examination: It can detect micro-metastases that cannot be detected by the above imaging methods.