[Clinical features and symptomatic treatment of liver metastasis in the terminally ill patient]

The incidence of liver metastasis is quite frequent in patients with advanced cancer. Some patients are asintomatic, but more often a correlation can be present between the clinical observation and the anatomic and functional alteration of the liver provoked by metastasis. Hepatomegaly may cause pain, dyspnea, hiccup. Biliary obstruction generates jaundice and itching. Portal hypertension may cause ascitis, encephalopathy, varices of the esophagus. Hepatic failure may produce symptoms like sopor, dysrasic oedema, coagulation problems, jaundice. The treatment of the symptoms listed above is crucial for the quality of life of these patients, and must be the mainstay of the therapeutic approach. This paper describes the palliative treatment of the clinical complications related to liver metastasis.