✅ Cirrhosis of the liver

What types of cirrhosis are there?
What are the symptoms of cirrhosis?
What harms the liver?
What is cirrhosis of the liver?
How is the disease diagnosed?
What is the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver?
What's the prognosis?

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VERIFIED CONTENTConsultation: lek. med. Grzegorz Bornstern, specialist in internal medicine

Cirrhosis develops over the years. There are many causes of cirrhosis of the liver, including heavy drinking, hepatitis B and C. This condition can even be fatal. How To Stop Cirrhosis Of The Liver? How is cirrhosis treated?

Cirrhosis of the liver( liver fibrosis , Latincirrhosis hepatis ) is an irreversible disease, but you can slow its progress. The "chemical factory" - people say about the liver, because almost 5,000 different reactions.

This is where harmful waste products are transformed into harmless compounds and removed with urine and faeces. The liver secretes the bile necessary for the digestion of fats.

Converts glucose into glycogen and keeps it in reserve for "bad times" (eg when we are going to lose weight drastically). It also stores some vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12), as well as iron and copper.

Produces heparin (an enzyme that regulates blood clotting) and some proteins, incl. immune. Our largest organ - weighs about 1.5 kg in an adult - can regenerate itself. Even if 75 percent. hepatocytes will die, the liver is still able to work.

What types of cirrhosis are there?

Due tocauses of cirrhosis of the liveris distinguished by:

alcohol-induced cirrhosis,
congestive cirrhosis that may appear in the course of heart failure,
post-inflammatory cirrhosis e.g. after viral hepatitis,
biliary cirrhosis, the cause of which is damage to the cells of the small bile ducts,
genetically determined cirrhosis, when the disease runs in a family, there is a statistically higher risk of developing the disease.

In addition, specialists divide cirrhosis according to the histopathological picture into:

small nodular cirrhosis (nodules up to 3 mm)
large nodular cirrhosis (nodules from 3 mm to several cm)
mixed cirrhosis

What are the symptoms of cirrhosis?

The liver does not hurt because it is not innervated. Pain can occur, however, when the organ grows significantly and presses against the innervated serous membrane that surrounds it, known as the liver capsule.

Early symptoms of liver cirrhosisare not associated with liver ailments, because how can cirrhosis of the liver be related to skin symptoms, e.g. reddening of the hands, red spots appearing on the body , fibrosis of the tendons in the hands, deformation of fingers and toenails or hypertrophy of the parotid glands?

Increasing impairment of liver function causescirrhosis of the liverto be accompanied by psychological symptoms such as exhaustion, fatigue and weakness, followed by further symptoms:

loss of appetite
nausea
weight loss
stomach pains
gynecomastia
hypogonadism
ascites
spleen enlargement

The next stage is the appearance of complications, although it should be noted that in some patients they are the first signs that the liver is not working properly:

petechiae and bleeding
jaundice
itchy skin
hepatic encephalopathy
insulin resistance
type 2 diabetes
hepatocellular carcinoma
portal hypertension with all its consequences.

What harms the liver?

The liver has many enemies. We most often associate cirrhosis with alcoholism. Meanwhile, alcohol abuse is only one of its causes.

Doctors estimate that cirrhosis develops in about 15 percent of people who drink heavily for 10 years or so. The reason is that alcohol blocks the metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, and this damages the liver.

A common cause of cirrhosis is infection with the hepatitis C virus (hepatitis C). Almost 20 percent of patients develop chronic inflammation of the liver parenchyma and damage that over time leads to fibrosis, i.e. cirrhosis. Although to a slightly lesser extent, the liver is also damaged by hepatitis B.

Many patients with advanced right ventricular failure may also develop cirrhosis of the liver due to blood stagnation in the lower body.

The following are also responsible for the progressive fibrosis of the liver:

certain genetic diseases
fatty liver in the course of e.g. diabetes, obesity or coronary heart disease
closure of the bile ducts (excess bile can damage the flesh)

In addition, the liver can also harm itself - sometimes the body begins to produce antibodies that damage this organ. It's usually hard to figure out why this is happening.

What is cirrhosis of the liver?

Hepatocytes are the basic cells of the liver.They form larger clusters, the so-called lobules. A vein runs through the center of each, and blood flows from the numerous tiny vessels filling the liver parenchyma.

As disease progresses and fibrous connective tissue appears in the parenchyma instead of new hepatocytes, blood flow becomes more difficult.

An additional obstacle is the excessive amount of fat. Effect - more and more impaired work of this organ.

The affected liver gives up at some point. Its cells (hepatocytes) die, and in their place connective tissue forms that interfere with the blood circulation.

Liver fibrosis cannot be reversed. You can only stop them and prevent complications, such as portal hypertension, insulin resistance and type II diabetes, hepatic encephalopathy (the effect of which may be brain damage), primary liver cancer.

A liver transplant may be the only way to save your life if you do not start your medication on time and / or stop drinking alcohol. But not everyone has a chance.

How is the disease diagnosed?

At the beginning, the doctor orders blood tests, the so-called liver tests to determine, among others levels of bilirubin, certain proteins, or certain enzymes. Often, antibodies are checked in the blood serum to confirm or rule out hepatitis B or C infection.

Imaging tests can help, e.g.

USG
computed tomography
scintigraphy
magnetic resonance imaging

A hepatologist may order a liver biopsy, i.e. a collection of liver tissues for microscopic examination.

What is the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver?

Depending on the cause of cirrhosis of the liver and the condition of this organ, the therapy is selected. If the cause of cirrhosis is infection with the hepatitis virus - the development of the disease can be slowed down by using, for example, interferon.

Corticosteroids are usually added to treatment when the body produces antibodies to liver tissue.

If the cause is, for example, Wilson's genetic disease, which is an excessive accumulation of copper in the organs, medications prevent the accumulation of this element in the body.

What's the prognosis?

There are no conclusive data on life expectancy with cirrhosis of the liver. It all depends on the causative agent of the disease (alcohol, viral hepatitis), the stage of the disease, compliance with the doctors' recommendations and the response to the therapy.

Liver - important recommendations

Medicines should be taken wisely - only when they are necessary and in doses recommended by a doctor. When medications can be takenaffect the liver - check with your doctor to see if you need regular liver tests. If so, do not forget about this study. Besides:

drink alcohol only occasionally and in small amounts
wherever you can, replace animal fats with vegetable ones
like the Mediterranean diet - it is good not only for the heart but also for the liver
avoid foods containing dyes, preservatives and so-called improvers
do not get overweight or obese - eat in moderation and move as much as possible
vaccinate against hepatitis A and B; unfortunately, there is no vaccine to protect against hepatitis C, which is transmitted through the blood, so avoid the infection, which most often occurs in medical facilities during procedures, through cosmetic supplies, tattooing, etc.

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