Doctors pinpoint two ‘vague’ toilet symptoms that are a warning sign of liver cancer – cases in under 50s have surged by 86 per cent since the 90s

Two critical changes in your toilet habits could be a sign of a deadly cancer that is on the rise in Britian.

Bile duct cancer, medically known as cholangiocarcinoma, is a cancer that grows in tubes connecting the liver, gallbladder and the intestine. 

The aggressive disease strikes about 3,100 people in the UK each year, with only one in 20 patients expected to be alive five years after their diagnosis. 

Charity, Liver Cancer UK, states some of the warning signs of bile duct cancer are only detectable when people go to the toilet.

These include unusually dark or pale urine and pale ‘putty-like’ stool. 

Both are potential signs of jaundice, a condition indicating the liver is under serious stress.

In cases of bile-duct cancer, it can be a sign the disease has blocked the tubes connecting to the liver, causing the bile to leak into blood and other tissue. 

Other signs of jaundice include a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes and itchy skin.

Additional potential signs of bile duct cancer include unintentional weight loss, abdominal pain — most often in the right-hand side of the stomach — flu-like symptoms like fever and fatigue as well as a loss of appetite. 

While the Liver Cancer UK said these can be symptoms of other conditions, they urged people experiencing them to contact their GP for advice. 

This is because, if it is cancer-related, an earlier diagnosis can vastly improve treatment options and outcomes. 

Scientists are unsure what exactly causes bile-duct cancer to form in some people as opposed to others.

However, Liver Cancer UK said it’s not always related to drinking alcohol.

‘It’s a myth that liver cancers are always related to alcohol. In fact, it’s unclear whether alcohol is linked to bile duct cancer,’ the charity states.  

As is the case for many forms of cancer, age is the biggest risk factor for the disease, with the vast majority of cases among patients between the ages of 50 and 70. 

However, some health conditions, like infection with parasites called liver flukes and some forms of inflammatory bowel disease are known to increase the risk of bile duct cancer. 

People with conditions like these are at increased risk of developing the disease at a younger age.

Charity, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), has observed a rise in bile duct cancer diagnoses in recent years. 

The reason for the increase is unclear, however some experts have suggested a rise in lifestyle choices such as smoking and drinking alcohol could be playing a part. 

Bile duct cancer is divided into two main types, intrahepatic and extrahepatic.

Intrahepatic bile duct cancers are those that form inside bile-ducts in the liver, while extrahepatic cancers are those that form in bile ducts outside of the organ. 

The former is considered a type of liver cancer, and accounts for the majority of bile duct cancers diagnosed in the UK.

CRUK data shows overall cases of liver cancer are on the rise among younger adults, medically defined in cancer care as those diagnosed under the age of 50. 

Rates of the disease have increased by 86 per cent among 25-to-49-year-olds since the 90s.

However, the overwhelming majority of cases are still in older adults with people over the age of 80 having the highest risk. 

Liver cancer is estimated to have killed more than 81,000 people in the last 20 years, with deaths projected to rise a further 10 per cent by 2040, according to CRUK. 

The disease is currently the eighth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, but by 2040, the charity warns that it could rank sixth. 

Around one in four liver cancer cases in the UK are caused by obesity, while a fifth are related to smoking, and one in 14 are due to excessive alcohol, research shows. 

Treatment for bile duct cancer usually consists of surgery to remove as much of the disease as possible followed by treatments like chemotherapy.