What is liver cancer?
Liver cancer is a cancer that starts in the liver. The liver is an organ inside your tummy (on the right side). It helps your body in lots of ways, like cleaning your blood, helping you digest food, and storing energy.
Sometimes, a small lump can start to grow in the liver. This lump can make you feel unwell, or it can cause changes in how your body feels over time.
Finding liver cancer early can make it easier to treat. Liver cancer can happen to anyone, but it is more common as people get older.
Liver cancer usually develops because of a mix of things over time. Often there is no single clear cause.
Lifestyle and health factors that can increase risk:
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Drinking a lot of alcohol over many years can damage the liver
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Being overweight or living with obesity
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Smoking
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Type 2 diabetes
Longer-term factors:
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Long-term hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection
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Cirrhosis (scarring of the liver, from different causes)
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Fatty liver disease (sometimes called NAFLD / NASH)
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Some rare inherited conditions that affect the liver
Having one or more risk factors does not mean someone will develop liver cancer — it just means the chance may be higher.
Signs to look out for with liver cancer
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Losing weight without trying
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Loss of appetite or feeling full very quickly
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Feeling or being sick
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Pain or discomfort in the top right of your tummy, or pain in your right shoulder
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A swollen tummy that’s not just after eating
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Yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes (jaundice)
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Itchy skin
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Feeling very tired or weak more than usual
When to get advice
If you’ve had symptoms like these most days for 3 weeks, or they’re getting worse, it’s a good idea to contact your GP practice.
Tests and next steps for liver cancer - NHS
For more information you can visit any of the links below.
Last reviewed: January 2026