Although it is not known exactly how hepatitis C induces liver cancer, this article provides an overview of symptoms, treatment, and more. In North America, one to three of every 100,000 deaths are attributable to liver cancer.
Liver cancer is found four times more often in men than in women.
In Western countries, the peak incidence occurs in people who are in their 50s and 60s. Roughly 1 to 5 percent of people with HCV will develop liver cancer after 20 years of infection, and the cancer is usually found after cirrhosis has developed. HCV-infected people with cirrhosis have a 1 to 4 percent risk per year of developing liver cancer. It is not known exactly how HCV induces liver cancer, but it has been theorized that the recurrent damage and regeneration of HCV-infected liver cells leads to the development of a mutated cell whose growth is uncontrolled. The primary cancer tumor and metastases are all clones of this same mutated cell.