Cancer is one of the common diseases that threaten human life. Its most characteristic is that the cells are uncontrolled, growing indefinitely and metastatic, and can invade other tissues of the body. The liver is the largest gland in the human body and receives blood supply from both the hepatic artery and portal vein, and the blood flow from the digestive tract organs all flows back through the portal vein, making it a common site for cancer metastasis. About one-third of tumors can metastasize to the liver. So what are the parts of tumors that are prone to metastasis to liver? What are the characteristics of metastatic liver cancer? And how to treat it? Let’s talk about the issues related to metastatic liver cancer. Metastatic liver cancer, also called secondary liver cancer, is formed when the primary focus originates from other organs in the body and metastasizes to the liver. As we have said before, cancer metastasizes through four ways: hematogenous metastasis, lymphatic metastasis, direct invasion and implantation metastasis. Among them, hematogenous metastasis is the most common for metastatic liver cancer. According to statistics, almost all tumors, except brain tumors, can metastasize to the liver. The most common are gastrointestinal tumors: gallbladder cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer in that order. Tumors of the chest: lung cancer as well as esophageal cancer. Other common ones are breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma. More than 50% of colorectal cancer patients will develop liver metastases. Unlike primary liver cancer, metastatic liver cancer has some characteristics of its own. 1.Symptoms and manifestations: A metastatic liver cancer has a more moderate course, and in terms of symptoms, it may only have the manifestations of primary cancer without the manifestations of liver involvement. B Metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma mostly has no background of liver disease, and the size of liver may be normal, but if extensive liver metastasis occurs, it may also appear obvious enlargement. C Its liver lesions are often of multiple nodular type, and the nodules are mostly similar in size. D The hepatic artery blood supply is reduced in metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, especially for tumors from the gastrointestinal tract. E The metastatic foci are hard or have pressure pain, and the central part of the nodule may have umbilical-like depression due to necrosis, and friction sounds can be heard. F Even if the portal vein is open, splenomegaly is common. Laboratory tests: A Most of the liver functions are normal, occasionally there are mild abnormalities, and elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is common. B. Most of the tumor markers are normal, or occasionally low elevation of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). C Patients with primary foci located in the gastrointestinal tract, breast or lung, serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) can be significantly increased, which is more valuable for diagnosis. The sensitivity can reach 84-93%. CA19-9: It can often be elevated when pancreatic cancer metastasizes to the liver. AB ultrasonography: The metastases are round or round-like with clear borders, and the typical image is “bull’s eye” or “concentric circles”. BCT examination: It is a more accurate method to diagnose metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, and CT shows mixed inhomogeneous isointensity or hypointensity, and the nodules in arterial stage may appear circular reinforcement. Generally, it is not accompanied by cirrhosis and does not invade the portal vein to form cancer thrombus. C MRI: Most of the lesions show heterogeneous enhancement or circumferential enhancement, and the central necrotic area does not show enhancement. The primary cancer lesion has metastasized to the liver, indicating that the primary cancer is already in advanced stage. Although it is advanced, it is not untreatable. Surgical resection and radiofrequency ablation are the most effective methods to treat metastatic liver cancer. Other treatments include arterial chemoembolization (TACE), anhydrous alcohol injection (PEI), biologic therapy and so on. These treatments, alone or in combination, are the key to cure or prolong patients’ lives. Learn about metastatic liver cancer and actively cooperate with doctors for treatment to light up the dawn of life for metastatic liver cancer patients.