How are liver cancer and diabetes related? How should patients with liver cancer combined with diabetes be treated? And how should these patients eat in their lives?
How are liver cancer and diabetes related?
Liver disease may trigger diabetes
The liver is an important site of sugar metabolism, and chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis often causes disorders of sugar metabolism, leading to dysfunction of the islet cells in the pancreas, a condition that leads to hepatogenic diabetes.
Particularly in decompensated cirrhosis, altered hepatic glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity can lead to insulin resistance and hyperglycemia, resulting in impaired postprandial glucose regulation and, in severe cases, eventual development of diabetes.
Diabetes can cause liver damage
Patients with diabetes tend to experience prolonged hyperglycemia due to absolute or relative insulin deficiency, which causes massive deposition of liver glycogen and increases the burden on the liver. And most diabetics have disorders of lipid metabolism, leading to hyperlipidemia, which can also damage the liver.
The risk and severity of liver lesions will increase with the duration of diabetes. Studies have found that people with diabetes are 2.5 times more likely to develop liver cancer than normal people.
Diabetes can therefore cause structural and functional damage to the liver; liver disease in turn can cause abnormal glucose tolerance and diabetes. The two exacerbate each other, creating a vicious cycle.
Treatment principles for liver cancer combined with diabetes mellitus
So, how should patients with liver cancer combined with diabetes be treated in the face of the dual dilemma? Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma should be given top priority, either surgical or interventional treatment.
And for diabetes, doctors usually proceed with the following principles:
- Give basic treatment, which means proper exercise, diet control and weight loss;
- Giving hepatoprotective and lipid-lowering therapy;
- Targeted treatment of diabetes mellitus and its possible insulin resistance, and glycemic control is the key to treating diabetic liver disease.
It is worth noting that most of the drugs commonly used to treat diabetes are harmful to liver function. However, in patients with cirrhosis combined with diabetes, they are usually treated with insulin.
Because patients with liver cancer combined with diabetes have impaired liver glycogen reserves and are more prone to hypoglycemic reactions after insulin injections than the average diabetic, they need regular daily insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring.
Dietary principles for hepatocellular carcinoma combined with diabetes
Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma combined with diabetes should limit protein intake in their diet and choose food types carefully:
- High-quality vegetable proteins rich in branched-chain amino acids, such as soy and its products, should be chosen;
- Among animal protein foods, milk, which produces less ammonia, should be chosen;
- Fish, shrimp and meat with high aromatic amino acid content should be carefully selected, and animal protein should be prohibited in case of hepatic coma;
- For patients with ascites, limit the intake of water and sodium;
- Supplement with adequate B vitamins and vitamin C to promote regeneration of liver cells.
Patients should follow the principle of “smaller and more frequent meals” to reduce the load on the digestive system and to help control blood glucose.