Why six-monthly checks matter if you have cirrhosis

Liver cancer rarely announces itself. In the early stage, when treatment works best, most people feel completely normal. That is exactly why screening exists.

Who is at higher risk

• Anyone with cirrhosis, from any cause
• Long-standing hepatitis B, even without cirrhosis
• Hepatitis C, including people cured of the virus but left with scarring
• Years of heavy alcohol use
• Advanced fatty liver disease with fibrosis

What screening involves

• An ultrasound of the abdomen every six months
• Often an AFP blood test along with it
• That is all — no admission, no injection, no preparation beyond an empty stomach

Why six months

It is the gap at which a tumour is usually still small enough for the full range of treatment to be possible. Caught small, there are several options. Caught late, there are few.

Signs that should not be ignored

• Losing weight without trying
• Ongoing pain or heaviness on the right side, under the ribs
• The stomach filling with fluid
• Yellow eyes appearing again
• Appetite dropping off over weeks

These can all be caused by other things, some of them minor. They are a reason to get examined, not a reason to assume the worst.

If a diagnosis has already been given

Bring every report and film you have, including the ones from other hospitals. A second opinion is not an insult to the first doctor — staging decides treatment, and staging deserves a careful second look.