What is secondary liver cancer?

How cancer spreads

Where a cancer starts is called the primary cancer. If some cancer cells break away from the primary cancer, they can move through the bloodstream or ​lymphatic system​ to another part of the body forming a new tumour. This is called a secondary cancer. Secondary cancers are also called metastases (pronounced me-tass-ta-sis).

Read more about how cancers can spread

The secondary cancer is made of the same type of cells as the primary cancer.

If your cancer started in your lung and has spread to your liver, the areas of cancer in the liver are made up of lung cancer cells.

This differs from having a cancer that first started in the liver (a primary liver cancer). In that case, the cancer is made up of liver cells that have become cancerous. This is important because the primary cancer tells your doctor which type of treatment you need.

Read more about primary liver cancer

This video is about secondary cancer, it is 2 minutes and 42 seconds long.

Which cancers spread to the liver?

Any cancer can spread to the liver. The most common cancers to do so are:

• breast cancer

• bowel cancer

• lung cancer

• pancreatic cancer

• stomach cancer

• ovarian cancer

• neuroendocrine tumour (NET) cancers

Read more about your type of cancer

Symptoms of secondary liver cancer

The possible symptoms of secondary liver cancer might include:

• feeling generally unwell

• tiredness

• discomfort or pain on the right side of your tummy (abdomen)

• feeling sick

• poor appetite and weight loss

• pain in your tummy (abdomen)

• a build up of fluid in the tummy (ascites)

• yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes, sometimes your skin will become itchy (jaundice)

• hiccups

These symptoms are common in other conditions so remember that they could be due to something else. They can be caused by cancer treatment or other conditions. They do not necessarily mean you have a secondary cancer.

Tests for secondary liver cancer

There are different tests you might need to diagnose secondary liver cancer. You might have one or more of the following:

• blood tests to check how well your liver is working

• ultrasound scan

• CT scan

• MRI scan

• PET-CT scan

• liver biopsy

Read more about these tests

Secondary liver cancer treatment

For some types of cancer that have spread to the liver, it may still be possible to cure your cancer. For other types of cancer, the aim may be to control your cancer and symptoms. This is called palliative treatment.

Read about treating secondary liver cancer

Secondary liver cancer survival

Most people worry about their outlook (prognosis) when they have a secondary cancer. Your individual outlook depends on many factors including whether the cancer has spread to more than one part of your body, how quickly it is growing and how it responds to treatment. 

It is usually difficult to predict and this uncertainty can be hard to deal with. Speak to your doctor who can give you more information about your outlook.

Read about coping with secondary liver cancer