Cirrhosis: Symptoms and treatment – Part 1

The liver is the largest organ in the body. It is located in the front of the upper abdomen on the right side just below the rib cage. The liver plays an important role. It produces substances that help fight infection and clot blood. It filters toxins out of the blood. The liver also helps absorb nutrients from food and stores energy. A healthy liver is large, soft and smooth.

Cirrhosis is an ongoing, long-term disease. It prevents the liver from working as it should, thus losing the ability to carry out its normal functions. Cirrhosis is most commonly linked with alcoholics, but has many causes. Cirrhosis has no cure and cannot be reversed, but some treatments may stop or delay its progression.

Cirrhosis occurs when there is damage to the liver. The damaged cells of the liver respond by producing strands of scar tissue to surround the damaged, healing cells. This makes the liver knobby and rough, increasing its size. The liver then begins to shrink as the scar tissue increases. The scar tissue begins to press on blood vessels in the liver. This interrupts their life sustaining blood flow and the cells die. The liver then begins to shrink in size.

One of the most common forms of cirrhosis involves excessive drinking. The liver breaks down alcohol so it can be eliminated from the body. Excessive alcohol consumption injures the liver by blocking the normal metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. This occurs when the body consumes more alcohol than the liver can process.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) involves the buildup of fat in the body. It resembles alcoholic cirrhosis, but occurs in people who do not drink excessively. This type of cirrhosis usually occurs with diabetes, obesity and coronary artery disease.

Another common cause of cirrhosis is chronic infection of Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B. It is not very well understood how the Hepatitis virus damages the liver. The damage possibly occurs because of interplay between the virus and the body’s immune system. One in five people with Hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis.

Cirrhosis may also occur from a bile duct obstruction. A bile duct is a tube that carries bile from the liver to the gall bladder and small intestine. Obstructions may occur if the ducts are injured during gall bladder surgery. Bile builds up in the liver and causes cell damage leading to cirrhosis.

Other causes of cirrhosis include infections, repeated heart failure with

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