Primary liver cancer separated into main and diffuse forms. According to the cell type – in hepatocellular (hepatoma), emanating from the hepatocytes (liver cells), cholangiocellular (holangioma) emanating from the bile duct epithelium, mixed (holangiogepatoma) emanating from the cells of both types, and mesodermal tumors (mesenchymoma, angiosarcoma and lymphosarcoma). Hepatomas occur much more frequently than other forms of liver cancer.

The most common classification is on the basis of international standard TNM, taking into account the peculiarities of the anatomic structure of the organ, size of the primary focus, spread of intrahepatic metastasis (T element – the incidence of tumors, N element – the status of lymph nodes, M element – distant metastases) and liver cancer symptoms.