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Rachel Yaffe, a 27-year-old TikTok star with a rare form of liver cancer, has died. She was diagnosed with fibrolamellar carcinoma cancer – a rare and distinctive type of liver cancer that affects people under 40 years and occurs in healthy livers, when she was just 20.
Yaffe used to share updates on her health journey and amassed over 55,00 followers on the social media site.
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Last year, Yaffe offered details about her diagnosis in a TikTok video, recalling how everyone initially attributed her symptoms to “anxiety.” However, her ultrasound and a subsequent meeting with a hepatologist ended with her getting to know that she had a 20-centimeter tumour on her liver that was blocking the blood flow to her calves and causing shoulder pain.
After she underwent a biopsy, Yaffe learned that her tumour was a “super rare adolescent liver cancer.” Yaffe began chemotherapy earlier this year, but the tumour had grown in size, reaching her left lung and pushing on her heart. After the tumour began to bleed, Yaffe got radiation which made her bedridden.
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According to the Journal of Liver Cancer, Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma or FLHCC is a rare malignant hepatic cancer with characteristics that differ from those of typical liver cancer.
FLHCC is common in young patients without any underlying liver disease and is known to be associated with a unique gene mutation. Even though it is a rare type of cancer in Asia, only a few cases have to date been reported in South Korea.
What are the signs and symptoms of FLHCC?
A few signs and symptoms of FLCC, include:
- Abdominal pain, which can vary in intensity and duration
- Weight loss
- Malaise, or a general feeling of unwellness or having less energy
- Jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes
- A palpable mass in the liver
- Swelling of the abdomen, also known as ascites
- Fever
- Nausea and vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Night sweats
- Low blood sugar levels, also known as hypoglycemia
- Changes in mental status, such as confusion
According to doctors, many people initially do not have any symptoms when the cancer first starts – however, later, when the tumour gets larger, symptoms also cause stomachache, shoulder, and back pain, and nausea and vomiting.
Can FLHCC be treated with the help of surgery?
Doctors say when surgery is not possible or is unsuccessful, other therapies may be considered. Recurrence following successful surgical removal of a tumour can occur, meaning that sometimes the tumour comes back after it was removed. The exact, underlying cause of this disorder is unknown.