Primary liver cancer (hepatoma) is not easy to detect because the symptoms are slow to appear, and are not always specific to this cancer alone. The symptoms of secondary liver cancer are very similar. They may include:

loss of appetite

feeling sick or vomiting

weight loss

unusual tiredness

fever without obvious cause

jaundice. The growing tumour often blocks the flow of bile into the intestine. Bile builds up and cannot be removed. The blood’s waste red blood cells cannot be removed.

This leads to jaundice, which makes the whites of the eyes and the skin turn yellow bloating or swelling in the abdomen, a lump or dull pain in the upper right-hand side of the abdomen, or pain when the liver is pressed on.
 

If you have cirrhosis or a long-term hepatitis infection, the symptoms tend to appear quite quickly. Otherwise, they are creeping and less definite. As the tumour grows, back pain may develop.

These symptoms are often caused by other things, but if you have any of them for more than a week or two, without known cause, you should see your GP.