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.

A decade of research specific to the inherited form of pancreatic cancer has turned up a gene that could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment for one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

The magical gene -- called palladin -- was discovered at the University of Washington after the extensive study of one family that has lost nine members over four generations to pancreatic cancer and has nine additional members with early signs of the disease.

Washington resident Ryan Chappell, a member of this family who had his pancreas removed just before cancer could strike, is very excited about this breakthrough.

"I feel really good that my family has not suffered (in vain)," the 21-year-old says. "Something has been accomplished from their contribution."

What the Chappell family has contributed to research is an understanding of a breakdown in a gene that makes a protein for the skeleton of pancreas cells. In this one family, the gene was mutated and produced large amounts of a misshapen protein that rolls like tumbleweed through the body, migrating 50 percent faster than other cells.

Scientists hope to translate their research findings into a diagnostic test to find excess amounts of the protein and to prevent the cancer cells from moving.

For now, early detection of pancreatic cancer rare because the pancreas is deep in the body, making it difficult to feel or see tumors through imaging tests. Symptoms -- like jaundice, abdominal and back pain, and digestive problems -- usually surface only after the cancer has spread.

Cancer of the pancreas is rare but is the third-leading cause of cancer death among people age 40 to 60.

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.

My mom's best friend died from pancreatic cancer just three months after her diagnosis with the disease. One of my co-workers lost her mother to the same disease just weeks after diagnosis. Another co-worker's husband lost his battle with pancreatic cancer after a 15-month all-out fight. And a family friend has somehow been surviving this deadly disease for years now. He's the exception, defying the odds rarely in favor of long-term survival.

About 33,730 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. Many of them -- 32,300 -- will die from the disease that is rarely caught early. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

In 2006, 174,470 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States. About 92,700 men and 81,770 women will develop the disease -- the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women.

An estimated 162,460 men and women will die of lung cancer this year, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths and taking more lives than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. While most people diagnosed with lung cancer will die within the first two years of diagnosis -- this has not changed in 10 years -- some people are cured. There are currently about 333,000 long-term survivors.

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.