Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology

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Childhood Liver Cancer

What Is Childhood Liver Cancer? | Diagnosis | Stages and Treatments | About Cinical Trials | Greenebaum Cancer Center

What Is Childhood Liver Cancer?

Childhood primary liver cancer, also called hepatoma, is a rare disease in which cancerous cells grow in the tissues of the liver. The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. It fills the upper right side of the abdomen, under the right lung and rib cage, and plays a vital role in making food into energy and filtering and storing blood.

Primary liver cancer is cancer that starts in the liver; it is different from cancer that has spread from another place in the body to the liver. There are two types of primary liver cancer -- hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular cancer. Hepatoblastoma is more common in young children before the age of three and may be caused by an abnormal gene. Children of families whose members carry a gene related to a certain kind of colon cancer may be more likely to develop hepatoblastoma.

Hepatocellular cancer is found in children from birth to 19 years of age. Children infected with hepatitis B or C (viral infections of the liver) are more likely than other children to get the disease. Immunization to prevent hepatitis B may decrease the chances of developing hepatocellular cancer.

This page was last updated on: September 23, 2009.

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