When it comes to cancer, everyone is afraid of avoiding it, especially liver cancer, which is more horrible than other malignant tumors because of its extremely high mortality rate and rapid development. After most patients know they have liver cancer, their first thought is to know how long they can live. There is a common saying that “”three months for the fast ones and six months for the slow ones”. But so far, there is no definite answer to this question, and it is not something that can be predicted casually. Then, what factors determine the survival time of liver cancer? Types of liver cancer Liver cancer refers to malignant tumors that occur in the liver, including primary liver cancer and metastatic liver cancer. Primary liver cancer can be divided into hepatocellular liver cancer, cholangiocellular liver cancer and mixed liver cancer according to cellular typing. According to the morphology of tumor, it can be divided into nodular type, giant type and diffuse type. Different types of hepatocellular carcinoma have different symptoms and the degree of erosion to the body will be different, so the survival period of different types of patients will also be different. Staging of liver cancer Liver cancer can be divided into early stage liver cancer, middle stage liver cancer and late stage liver cancer. Early stage liver cancer can be cured if detected early and treated timely, and the survival period is not much different from that of normal people. However, if scientific treatment is adopted, it can improve the quality of survival and prolong the survival period of patients. Metastasis of liver cancer The main ways of metastasis of liver cancer include hematogenous metastasis, lymphatic metastasis and implantation metastasis. The metastasis symptoms and the degree of erosion of the body are different depending on the metastasis route and the metastasis site. Some patients do not have metastasis and spread of liver cancer, and they will recover better from treatment and have longer survival period. While some patients will have metastasis and spread of different degrees and scopes. If liver cancer once spreads to important parts, it will seriously threaten the life safety of liver cancer patients. Patient’s physical condition How long the patient can live is also related to the patient’s physical condition. Some liver cancer patients are not in good health, especially they have other diseases; while some patients have good health and strong immune system, even after surgery or chemotherapy, they can recover to the best condition quickly, in which case, the survival period will be longer. Some patients with liver cancer have poor mental status and depression for a long time because of the disease, which leads to endocrine disorder and immunity decline, further accelerating the development of cancer cells and shortening the survival cycle. In addition, special attention should be paid to diet, pay more attention to nutrition, give high protein, high calorie, high vitamin and low fat food to enhance patients’ physical fitness, which is also the key to determine patients’ survival period. Only early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment can gain more chances to overcome the cancer disease.