Liver Metastases

The liver is one site where breast cancer tends to spread, but is less common than the bones or lungs. Studies show that first metastases go to the liver (1, 2) in approximately 10 percent of cases.

Symptoms of liver metastases may include swelling in the upper right abdomen due to an enlarged liver; ache on the right side below the rib cage; occasional sharp pain in the right side; and jaundiced skin and eyes. As always, talk with your doctor if you notice anything that is unusual for you.

Liver metastases are often difficult to detect. Detection methods include scintigraphy (an imaging process using radioactive isotopes tagged to drugs that go to the liver when used intravenously), ultrasound and CT scan. Patients are treated with endocrine (hormone) therapy and chemotherapy; some with limited metastases may be treated with surgery or a process known as radiofrequency energy ablation that uses heat to kill tumor cells.

Our booklet for metastatic breast cancer patients, I Still Buy Green Bananas (PDF), is available to answer more of your questions. Feel free to call Y-ME’s 24/7 Hotline (800-221-2141) anytime and speak with someone who’s been there.

 

1. The GIVIO Investigators. (1994). Impact of follow-up testing on survival and health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271(20), 1587-1792.
2. Rosselli Del Turco, M., et al. Intensive diagnostic follow-up after treatment of primary breast cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271(20), 1593-1597.

May 2007