Liver cancer experts attribute the rise in HCC, a highly aggressive cancer sometimes called hepatoma, to an increase decades ago in chronic infection with hepititis C & B and also chronic alcohol consumption. Worldwide liver cancer affects 700,000 people with 18,000 Americans diagnosed in 2006 and over 19,000 estimated to be diagnosed in 2007. The increase of this disease in the United States has doubled in one decade and over 16,000 people are estimated to die from the disease this year.

The rise in the United States is expected to increase. There are now 1.4 million people in the United States infected with HBV and 4 million are infected with HCV. Growing evidence suggests two other diseases now increasingly common in the United States to have significant risk factors for primary liver cancer. Diabetes and obesity.

HCC typically does not have any symptoms until its later stages which makes it difficult to diagnose. Traditional chemo does not treat the disease with much success and liver transplants or resection surgeries are needed. One reason why donors are very important in fighting this disease. When signs and symptoms do arise they might include weight loss, fatigue, pain in the upper right abdomen that may extend to the back and shoulder, feeling full after small meals, accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, nausea, loss of appetite, and jaundice.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow popped in for an unexpected visit on Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor on Wednesday with the purpose of clearing up a certain cancer matter.

"Some of this has been misreported," Snow told O'Reilly in reference to his recent cancer recurrence.

"I do not have liver cancer," Snow said. "There are a number of small tumors that are in my abdominal cavity; they have not hit any other organs."

Snow, 51, said there is also no cancer traveling through his bloodstream and that he plans to return to work after recovering from the surgery he had two weeks ago to remove tumors from his abdomen.

Although his cancer is not threatening his life -- he says if the tumors didn't grow from now until the time he died, he would be absolutely fine -- Snow will still receive chemotherapy to "drive this sucker into remission," he said.

Snow began battling cancer in 2005 when he was diagnosed with colon cancer, had his colon removed, and underwent several months of chemotherapy.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who on Friday asked the public not to jump to conclusions about a suspicious growth found on his abdomen, says the growth -- removed during surgery yesterday -- has been identified as cancer.

Snow, 51, told White House officials that his cancer -- first found in his colon and treated in 2005 -- has spread to his liver. He is currently consulting with doctors about chemotherapy and is reported to be feeling well.

"I'm gonna beat it again," says Snow who gave the White House deputy Press Secretary instructions for reporters.

"Tell them not to bug me," he said.

It is not clear when or if Snow, married with three young children, will return to his duties.

White House press secretary and colon cancer survivor Tony Snow asks the public to refrain from jumping to conclusions regarding the surgery he will have on Monday to remove a growth from his lower abdomen.

Blood tests and a CAT scan of the growth show no presence of cancer, he reports. But still, he and doctors are proceeding cautiously due to his history.

Snow, a former Fox News radio and television talk show host, was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, when he was a commentator at Fox. Two months after surgery, he returned to the air and then became White House press secretary in April 2006.

Snow's plan is to be back behind the podium a few weeks after surgery, when he has a better idea of what it is he's dealing with.

Almost 19,000 cases of primary liver cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year according to The American Cancer Society. This type of cancer is twice as common in men as in women. Over 16,000 patients will die of their liver cancer by the end of 2006.

The liver is responsible for many vital roles in our body. It plays an important role in removing toxic waste, stores many nutrients absorbed from the intestines and can also make some of the clotting factors needed to stop bleeding from an injury. The liver is made up of several different types of cells. The tumors that develop in the liver can either be benign or cancerous. Benign tumors of the liver include hemangioma, hepatic adenomas and focal nodular hyperplasia.

The most common form of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma. It begins in the main type of liver cell and three out of four patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer are of this type. A type of liver cancer that is rare but has a better prognosis than other forms of liver cancer is called fibrolamellar liver cancer. Cholangiocarcinomas, another form of liver cancer is usually treated the same as hepatocellular carcinoma.

Many times when the cancer is found in the liver it did not begin there but is metastasis from another primary tumor in the body. These tumors are not considered primary liver cancer and are not treated as such, they will be treated based on where the primary tumor began. If you have metastasis to the liver from lung cancer you will still be treated with drugs that kill lung cancer tumors.

KrisTv has published a feature story on Vicki Barrilleaux, a colon cancer survivor, who has started a colon cancer awareness and screening group in Corpus Christi Texas, and who claims Katie Couric saved her life.

"Everything I knew prior to my diagnosis was what I had heard from her because of her husband," Barrilleaux said. "I was lucky, I did have some symptoms. Usually, the number one symptom of colon cancer is no symptoms, but I did have some bleeding. I was more aware because I had listened to her. It can be embarrassing, and I don't know if it's something I would have talked to my doctor about if I hadn't had that concern."

Coletta Barrett believed her stomach pains were caused by a gall bladder attack after eating greasy fried food. She excused a tightening in her lower abdomen as irritable bowel syndrome, and she explained blood in her stool as a response to stress. Only after a referral to a gastroenterologist led to a colonoscopy did she learn that the upper portion of her colon was almost completely blocked by a large tumor -- a cancerous tumor. Barrett was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her colonoscopy saved her life.

Barrett never once predicted she might have colon cancer. She thought the disease mostly struck older people. She was just 42. Screening tests are not even recommended until the age of 50. She had no family history of this cancer and had no typical risk factors associated with the disease. She did not smoke, was not overweight, and drank very little. But she did in fact have colon cancer -- shocking as it was -- and doctors believed her tumor had been growing for 18 months before detected. Fortunately, Barrett learned that her cancer had not spread. And she learned a few other things that she now shares as advice -- from her survivor point of view. These tips come from an article about Barrett in the August 1 Women's Day magazine.

• Barrett says, "know your body." And don't ignore or dismiss any changes that occur.
• Don't let embarrassment stop you from seeking help. Some symptoms can be difficult to discuss -- such as change in size and frequency of bowel movements, bloody stool, cramping, and bloating -- but still ask your doctor about them. Early detection is critical, she says.
• If diagnosed with colon cancer, learn as much as you can about the disease -- a well-informed patient has a better chance at a better outcome.

Barrett offers sound advice. And I think it is global advice. Knowing your body, discussing symptoms, and education after diagnosis are key for anyone. For everyone.

Quick autopsies -- or rapid organ donation -- may steer scientists in the direction of better diagnosing and treating the most lethal of cancers. Some 33,700 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year -- and 32,300 will die. There is no early detection test for this disease and early symptoms are vague and may be mistaken for health concerns like indigestion. By the time the classic symptoms -- jaundice and itching -- surface, the cancer has typically spread and patients have only months to live. Rapid autopsies have been used before -- for Alzheimer's and prostate cancer -- but this a first in the study of pancreatic cancer and it just may lead to the discovery of what makes this cancer so aggressive and so deadly.