hcc at mid-30s

[rosy888]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and glad to find many useful discussion here.
I am in my mid-30s and recently just had a liver resection due to hcc. Good thing is it's caugh in early stage...

Brief history:
-got hepB probably at birth
-ALT elevated for a few years in my 20s (in the 50~100 range; not treated that time due to no effective drug available and want to have baby first)
-ALT got back to normal in the past few years, together with lower virus DNA (decreased from 10^7 to <2000 copy); also eAg became netagive while eAb became positive)
-normal ultrasound findings (monitor every 6 month) in the past few years

However, a few months ago, a tumor was found caugh by AFP and comfirmed by MRI. Have been on Baraclude since then (never got treated before).

My questions are:
1. why hcc was found suddently although test results seem to suggest everything was getting better in the past few years(normal ALT, low virus load, e-seroconversion) ?
2. is  Baraclude the best option for me?
3. any other things I should consider/try to prevent re-occurance?

Any comment/suggestion would be highly appreciated!

[rosy888]

Thanks stef for the diet info.

So you don't eat any kind of meat (including fish) or egg at all?

Yes potato is not a good choice, why not consider sweet potato (concern about too much sugar?)?

I eat quite a lot of vegi, but can't do without fat. Although I don't add much oil when I cook, I eat nuts when I eat vegi. Otherwise if just pure vegi, I can easily feel nauseous. I guess you don't have that proble? or how do you deal with that?

[stef2011]

potatoes, not good for cancer, eat less of this and more broccoli, cabbage

i used to eat 80gr or more per meal (thatll make 150gr rice per day), blubberies half lunch and half dinner to make total 180gr

definitely all organic, if not organic the pesticides are there and you eat it

[stef2011]

i use frozen bio vegetables (not available fresh) and some fresh vegetables (carrots, all broccoli type and so on), i boil them with the rice sometimes and sometimes separated.bio rice is much more tasty and takes longer to boil

to make black rise tasty it is best you check online recipes, vegetables and fish can make it tasty, i also used to add curcumin and some pure virgin oliv oil (home made)

i think bio is important for the rice because it contains also outer rice shell and you eat pesticides and chemicals with the normal type

sorry bio  is european word for organic

[rosy888]

Hi stef, in your previous post on fatty liver you mentioned your diet: "black rice 80gr with vegetables in it (potatoes and many others) and a lot of blueberries and berries (about 180gr a day)"

Do you cook black rice together with vegetables? you only eat 80gr (cooked?) per day? Do you use organice black rice and berries?

Thanks

[StephenCastlecrag]

Statins are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels.
"As of 2010, a number of statins are on the market: atorvastatin (Lipitor and Torvast), fluvastatin (Lescol), lovastatin (Mevacor, Altocor, Altoprev), pitavastatin (Livalo, Pitava), pravastatin (Pravachol, Selektine, Lipostat), rosuvastatin (Crestor) and simvastatin (Zocor, Lipex).[6] Several combination preparations of a statin and another agent, such as ezetimibe/simvastatin, are also available." from Wikipedia.

So it is a prescribed medication, not a supplement. Please consult your doctor.

[rosy888]

Thank you for sharing the info.   Is statin a off-label medicine? taken as supplement?

[StephenCastlecrag]

Statins May Lower Death Risk in Liver Cancer                                                                By Cole  Petrochko, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: January 27, 2013
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Action Points                                                

    This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
    Statin use seemed to reduce the risk of death in patients with hepatocellular cancer.
    Point out that the positive effect of statin use on overall survival remained significant even after adjusting for age, sex, race, staging, hepatitis C and B history, liver cirrhosis, treatment, alcohol use, and diabetes.


SAN FRANCISCO  --  Statin use seemed to reduce the risk of death in patients with hepatocellular cancer, researchers reported here.
In a cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), those who used statins in addition to local and systemic therapy or surgical resection had a 30% reduction in mortality versus those who did not use statins (hazard ratio 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9), according to Young Kwang Chae, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues.
The positive effect on overall survival (OS) remained significant even after adjusting for age, sex, race, staging, hepatitis C and B history, liver cirrhosis, treatment, alcohol use, and diabetes (aHR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9, P=0.03), Chae said at a poster session during the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
The authors noted that "preclinical evidence supports antitumoral activity of statins," adding that several observational studies showed a protective effect of statin use with incidence of hepatocellular cancer.
"Hepatocellular cancer is a very vascular disease," Chae told MedPage Today.
The investigators followed 644 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC patients over 10 years. The sample included 68 statin users and 571 non-users who were mostly white (69.1% and 65%, respectively) and male (77.9% and 72.9% respectively). The median OS of all patients was 19.2 months, and 10.7% reported statin use.
More than half (70.7%) were diagnosed at TNM stage III and IV, while 52.6% had no evidence of hepatitis B or C virus infection. Local and systemic therapy was done in 81.7% of the patients while 18.3% underwent surgical resection.
Median OS was higher among statin users than non-users at 25.4 months versus 18.5 months (P=0.04).
Among patients without cirrhosis, statin use was associated with a 40% mortality reduction (HR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4 to 0.9, P=0.04).
History of hepatitis did not affect outcomes, nor did age, sex, race, staging, treatment type, alcohol use, or diabetes status.
Chae noted that HCC patients taking statins were older (mean age 63.1) and many had diabetes (51.5%). These participants had "more cardiovascular disease and were more likely to be sick and have poor prognosis, but, in fact, they actually lived longer," Chae pointed out.
Chae said that potential areas for follow-up would be tests to determine subgroups  --  such as cirrhosis versus non-cirrhosis patients  --  where statin use is most effective. "There should be a group that statins are most effective in, and I would like to randomize them to use," he said.
The authors also noted the study could be validated with a large, prospective study.
The study was limited by retrospective data and lack of randomization among patients, although Chae noted that the latter was offset in the multivariate analysis.
The authors had no conflicts of interest.

Primary source: Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium
Source reference:
Chae YK, et al "The association between statin use and hepatocellular cancer outcome" GiCS 2013; Abstract 165.

[stef2011]

we talked about supplements made by fungus but i dont think they can help clear hbv, some member should try them and report results

i am about to start pegintf injections plus nuncs so maybe best not to mix too many things now

sorry i cant put on doc i am so busy it is even too much to post here, if you have time please copy to a doc file maybe easier to read

try to avoid sugars they feed tumors directly, cocao is very good for the poliphenols content but without sugars

[rosy888]

interested in the details of your diet, wonder if you have put it into file.doc yet?

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_yFgxI8KNcRZWEzYTc3N2QtNWE2ZC00NGE4LThiMDgtMGQxZDNlYzU4NzE1&hl=en_US&pli=1

thanks

[rosy888]

stef, thanks a lot for sharing your diet change experience.

I don't add salt or sugar when I cook for many years now, no problem with getting rid of salt, just that still like those sweet foods such as bread and chocolate (mostly dark chocolate with >50% cocoa content).

I try to eat more whole grains and beans but can't digest them efficiently (will have lots of gases each time after eating them).

I love fruits and vegi, so no problem at all of eating 5 serving daily :-)

I recently start Reishi supplement, which is said to help on enhancing your immune system.  Have you looked into it or tried it?

[rosy888]

it's about 1cm when discovered. size didn't change much at time of surgery (done within a month), despite afp keep increasing. Be aware that hcc could occur without elevated afp, thus it's better to combine both afp & US or MRI for monitoring.  
If you still concern, won't hurt to re-check in 3m instead of 6m. Good luck.

[stef2011]

also double check ingredients of foods and drugs for aspartame or artificial sweetners.aspartame is proven to make cancer, in italy we have a lab paid by italian citizens by taxes (so you cant corrupt them) who checks toxicity and cancerogenity of all substances and aspartame was proven to promote cancer in very tiny doses
EU should have reviwed authorization in september but.....aspartame and similar are in kind of foods

by the way it was also proven to abolish 100% of the gcmaf effect on macrophages, so i probably damages imune system too

[stef2011]

a very good example is the diet i used to clear my fatty liver and results showed up in as little as few months, that diet is the same for all metabolic related diseases, cancer prevention included.it has very little proteins so legumes must be included to balance the almost zero meat/diary products

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-B/update-on-my-fatty-liver/show/1500346

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-B/fatty-changes-in-liver-disappeared-due-to-diet-control/show/1596797

[stef2011]

if you follow my old posts you ll see all my diet and efforts, i am also in same situation as you since my hcc risk is very very high.started with cirrhosis in 2009 with precore bcp mutations.
by use of antivirals and especially diet and heptech protocol i regressed cirrhosis as early as 2 years (never reported cases so fast, antivirals require 5years or more to regress cirrhosis)

so diet is essential followed by antivirals or antivirals+intf according to situation

the alkaline diet is good for keeping good health for general population and especially for us, i use baking powder from pharmacy in pure form and dissolve in some water but barley in ht water is good too

i dont eat any sugar anymore, use very little diary products (full of hormones and antibiotics), almost no salt.in a short time you get used to taste without them, sensitivity increases so you feel the salt or sweet of the foods direclty
avoid refined foods and try to eat as many vegetables as you can, for cancer the diet indicates 5 portions of fruit and vegetables daily, this is too much but if you canget close to this it is good

coofee cucurmin and various spieces have anticancer effect just check this community or google.
in case hcc is from chemical in your bodyfrom pollution or chemical in food glutathione in liposomes by livonlabs helps clear the body from this stuff

this is an eample, use google chrome for translation, i m sure even this diet changes cannot save everybody from cancer when it is there but i am sure these changes can prevent most of cancer cases, at least this is also what research says

http://www.tantasalute.it/articolo/guarisce-da-un-cancro-incurabile-modificando-la-dieta-l-incredibile-testimonianza/40399/

[ggtm]

I'm sorry to hear abt ur Hcc, but its a good thing u discovered it early and had it removed. May I know what size was the tumor when it was first discovered? I ask because I know some liver cysts or nodules are benign and I wonder how soon can this be confirmed.

I recently had an u/s and then an MRI to followup on a 6mm suspected liver hemangioma on u/s. but MRI was not conclusive as it said it is too tiny to diagnose anything conclusive. Till now I do not know what that means. They just told me to followup again in 6mths. My AFP was 0.8. I am worried what this nodule may be.

[rosy888]

"also have a look on livonlabs liposomes, use of vit c in liposomes and glutathione can help a great deal to keep oxidative stress normal and oxidative stress is a promoter of dna damage, so better have it normal

also baking soda can be of use, cancers need acid ph to develop, you can take a spoon of baking soda to keep your ph at about 7 or little higher than 7 but less than 8, you can check your ph by urine ph
also barley in some water can be used to keep acidity low but baking soda is more potent ."

Interesting info.  I heard about alkaline diet, but never heard of taking baking soda directly (take it in power form?)...
"barley in some water": just soak raw barley in (hot?) water and drink the water?

Thanks

[rosy888]

Hi Stef, thanks a lots for your input/suggestion!  A couple questions here:

no sugars: you mean no added sugar, or even avoid sweet foods (fruits etc)?
low lipids: should limit healthy lipids (such as omega-3 from walnut) as well?

"food is full of chemicals even from the farmers, pesticides, hormones antibiotics and so on.it can be very very easy to develop hcc from these checmicals in food than from hbv ."

These days I keep wondering how much does hbv, diet, stress etc play role in my development of hcc.... your point of view is a bit surprised to me - if asked to rank in the order of significance, I would had put: hbv~stress > diet (for me, I paid quite a lot of attention trying to eat healthy although not as strict as you just suggested; but didn't manage well on stress in the past few years) ....

[stef2011]

also have a look on livonlabs liposomes, use of vit c in liposomes and glutathione can help a great deal to keep oxidative stress normal and oxidative stress is a promoter of dna damage, so better have it normal

also baking soda can be of use, cancers need acid ph to develop, you can take a spoon of baking soda to keep your ph at about 7 or little higher than 7 but less than 8, you can check your ph by urine ph
also barley in some water can be used to keep acidity low but baking soda is more potent

[stef2011]

i think you should aim at:
keep hbsag as low as possible
hbvdna und
no sugars
low lipids
simvastatin
diet made of fresh vegetables, low meat, fish and everything not processed, no chemicals of any kind added to food, look for certificate organic food

food is full of chemicals even from the farmers, pesticides, hormones antibiotics and so on.it can be very very easy to develop hcc from these checmicals in food than from hbv

[rosy888]

Hi Rome70, I agree with your point of view.

Regarding sAg quantity, I am still trying to find out way to draw blood and send samples oversea for testing.... Compared to many of you, I have little knowledge on many of the new/updated approaches (including importance of sAg quantity monitoring; BTW, my doctor doesn't think it's helpful probably that's the opinion for most US doctors).  I am still digging through the archieve to find out if sAg quantity is still important to monitor for people have hcc history.  If any of you happen to have relevant info, would appreciate your sharing!

Many thanks!

[Rome70]

For inactive hbv Normally fibroscan  every 6 month.
But for you often afp testing is probably more important. You will not catch  a little tumor on fibroscan. It is good for screening for fibrosis and cirrhosis but if you are able to develop hcc so fast without cirrhosis, fibroscan is of little use.

This is my unprofessional view.

[rosy888]

ok, thanks!
how frequent for fibroscan then?

[Rome70]

I may be wrong but I recall 12 weeks intervals from somewhere.

[rosy888]

Usually how often hbsag quantity is checked when on medication? thx