Tetrachloroethylene Exposure and Primary Liver Cancer

In the 1960's, tetrachlorethylene (TCE), also known as perchlorethylene, became a preferred organic solvent for dry cleaning agents. Approximately half of the TCE manufactured in the United States (USA) in 1990 was used for dry cleaning, but in the Nordic countries the use of TCE peaked around 1970. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that in the early 1980s approximately 50,000 dry cleaners could have been exposed to TCE 3. From the early 1970s to the 1980s, the incidence of primary liver cancer increased in several countries.

Liver cancer is the proliferation and expansion of unhealthy cells in the liver. Liver cancer is called primary liver cancer. Cancer that spreads from the other organs to the liver is called metastatic liver cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer

The liver may be affected by primary liver cancer. It may occur in the liver or may spread to the liver after it has spread by cancer formed in other parts of the body. Most liver cancers are secondary or metastatic. In other words, it originates from other parts of the body. Primary liver cancer from the liver accounts for about 2% of cancers in the US, but in some low-developed countries it accounts for half of all cancers. This is because people are liable to liver cancer, mainly due to the epidemic of hepatitis caused by infectious virus. In the United States, the incidence of primary liver cancer is twice that of women and the average age is 67 years.

The liver appears in the liver, the organ below the lower right ribs of the abdomen. It is important to distinguish primary hepatoma (hepatocellular carcinoma) and cholangiocarcinoma (cholangiocarcinoma) from tumors originating from other parts of the body and spreading to the liver (liver metastasis). Liver metastasis is more common than primary liver cancer and is treated in a way to treat primary cancers such as lung cancer or breast cancer rather than primary liver cancer.

Screening for liver cancer is important for many patients with liver disease. Liver cancer generally refers to cancer caused by primary hepatocytes called hepatocytes, so cancer is called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Other types of cancer such as bile duct cancer may occur in the liver, and many types of cancer may metastasize to the liver (metastatic cancer), but HCC accounts for 90% of primary liver cancer. Morbidity and mortality of HCC are increasing in many parts of the world, and the US increased 1% per year from 2008 to 2012. Adult male HCC is the fifth most common cancer in the world and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Among adult women, it is the sixth leading cause of seventh most commonly diagnosed cancer and cancer death.