Hepatologists sometimes encounter this situation in the clinic, some patients with hepatitis B every blood test liver function is normal, but ultimately will get liver cancer! In the routine physical examination, liver function test is one of the essential laboratory tests, and it is also one of the most misunderstood tests. For hepatitis patients, a normal liver function test value does not mean that there is no problem with the liver. Liver function tests simply detect damage to liver cells and are a routine means of understanding basic liver function. For normal people without hepatitis, this test can understand whether the liver is normal or not; for people with hepatitis B or a history of hepatitis B, it cannot fully reflect the health of the liver. For example, in some patients with advanced liver cancer, the liver function test may still be normal when the cancer cells have spread and metastasized and ascites has appeared. This situation is mainly related to the characteristics of the liver. The liver is responsible for many physiological functions of human body, including detoxification, synthesis, metabolism, transportation and excretion. Under normal circumstances, the liver is a very “strong” organ, with strong regenerative capacity and reserve function. Some people have done experiments, a mouse with 2/3 of its liver cut off, after 3 months, the liver can be restored to normal size. Therefore, even if it is eroded by cancer cells, the liver will keep on undergoing compensatory proliferation. Therefore, even if the liver has been more than half eroded by the tumor, as long as 1/3 of the liver cells are functioning normally, the body metabolism is not affected. At this time, liver function tests may not show abnormalities, and the body may not feel any obvious discomfort. This explains why some patients are able to eat and drink without pain or discomfort, but there is such a doubt as a malignant tumor on the liver. It is because of this characteristic of the liver that people cannot easily detect liver cancer through normal liver function tests. In addition, early liver cancer does not have any symptom and it is very easy to delay the condition. Once patients have symptoms such as pain in the upper right abdomen and loss of appetite, it is usually in the middle to late stage of liver cancer. How to prevent liver cancer? Experts believe that prevention of liver cancer should start from prevention of hepatitis. Liver cancer is mostly developed on the basis of hepatitis, and in foreign countries, it is mostly based on alcoholic hepatitis and hepatitis C, and in our country, it is mainly based on hepatitis B. China is a big country with hepatitis B, so it is more important to prevent liver cancer from developing. China is a big country of hepatitis B, which has laid the groundwork for the higher incidence of liver cancer. Every year, nearly 100,000 people lose their lives due to liver cancer in China, with the number of incidence and deaths accounting for more than half of all liver cancer cases in the world. Among them, hepatitis B patients account for more than 80% and hepatitis C patients account for 10%. In other words, about 90% of liver cancer patients have a history of hepatitis. When not suffering from hepatitis B, people should get hepatitis B vaccination in time to prevent and control all kinds of hepatitis, and pull up a line of defense before hepatitis turns into liver cancer. Clinically, people who are prone to liver cancer are often categorized into 3 groups: the first group is high-risk group, such as patients with chronic viral hepatitis (hepatitis B, hepatitis C, etc.) who have developed cirrhosis; the second group is medium-risk group, such as patients with chronic viral hepatitis but without family history of cirrhosis and liver cancer; and the third group is low-risk group, such as patients with cirrhosis caused by non-viral reasons. If you are not in the above 3 groups, it can be said that you are unlikely to be “connected” with liver cancer. If you are in these 3 groups, you don’t have to despair, because early detection, diagnosis and treatment can cure liver cancer. Therefore, people who are prone to liver cancer should have a checkup at least once in 3 months, and in each physical examination, in addition to the routine liver function test, they should add the alpha-fetoprotein and ultrasound of liver, gallbladder, spleen and pancreas, so that liver cancer can have no place to hide!