Liver Cirrhosis: A Physiological View Like many of the organs in our body, the liver plays a vital role and function in our body, which in turn helps keep our bodies nice and healthy. The liver is the second largest organ in our body, located just underneath the rib cage on the right side. Some of the liver’s functions include: producing bile, producing proteins, metabolizing nutrients, removing potentially toxic byproducts of certain medications, and helping our body fight infection by removing bacteria from the blood. Although the liver can carry out its necessary functions in its healthy state, there is a disease which causes damage to the liver called, liver cirrhosis. It is important to learn and educate ourselves on the many aspects
The Hepatitis B virus is a disease that affects the liver and results in swelling and loss of normal function in the liver. It is estimated that 350 million people are infected with Hepatitis B worldwide, with 50 million new cases diagnosed every year.(1) In the Unit...
Drug-induced hepatitis is a common disease that affects patients taking certain type of medications. The presentation of these patients include jaundice, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.3 This case report will describe a middle aged gentleman with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) and Hepatitis C who had just started on Highly Active AntiRetroviral Therapy (HAART) and had been rechallenged with antituberculosis drugs (anti-TB) who presented with signs of liver failure. This case highlights that there may be many factors that might cause the hepatotoxicity and we should know how to exclude which drug that might cause it and all other AIDS related complications.
You look in the mirror and see that your skin and eyes seem a yellowish color, your legs and ankles are swollen, you have abdominal pain and swelling, your skin is also itchy, you have dark urine, and notice that your stool is a pale color. What do these symptoms mean? These are symptoms of damage to the liver. There are many ways to damage your liver like the use of alcohol, but a way you may not be aware of is the use of medication. Some medications when used repeatedly can cause liver damage, such as acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol.
Cirrhosis is a deterioration of the liver resulting from heavy scarring, causing the liver to not be able to function properly. If cirrhosis becomes severe, a liver transplant may be the only solution (“Beyond Hangovers: Understanding Alcohol's Impact on Your Health” 14). It is difficult to calculate when a person will develop cirrhosis, because an alcoholic could never develop the disease, but someone who drinks socially could. It is also unknown why cirrhosis is more prevalent in women (Freeman).... ...
Hepatitis A is a virus or an infection that causes liver disease and inflammation of the liver. According to Centers for Disease and Prevention, hepatitis A is a self- limited disease that does not cause a chronic infection and it is rarely fatal. The virus is an infectious disease of the liver which cannot be transmitted by sneezing and coughing. It is usually transmitted from person to person through the feces or the mouth, from consuming contaminated food or water. Many people do not experience any symptoms of hepatitis A, but if someone was to get it, then the symptoms could last from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. The blood is tested to determine how the liver is functioning. The blood is usually taken from the vein in the arm and
What is hepatic cirrhosis? According to the medical dictionary hepatic cirrhosis is when scar tissue replaces the liver’s healthy tissue. This disease changes the structure of the liver and blood vessels that nurture it. It reduces the liver’s capability to produce proteins and process hormones, nutrients, medications, and poisons. Cirrhosis is an illness that gets worse over time and possibly can become life threatening. This serious illness is ranked as the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S. It is the third most common cause of death for adults between 45 and 65 years of age. It occurs in more than fifty percent of undernourished chronic alcoholics. Unfortunately it kills about 35,000 people per year. In other country’s such as Africa and Asia death from cirrhosis is usually caused by hepatitis B.
Background and objectives: Many liver diseases are accompanied by jaundice. Differentiation of cholestatic from non-cholestatic jaundice is important. Cholestatic jaundice most probably occurs due to a pathological condition and the most frequent causes in early infancy are neonatal hepatitis and biliary atresia in early life. Early diagnosis and treatment of infantile cholestasis can improve prognosis of liver diseases by prevention of the complications of these disorders.
Hepatitis B, an infectious disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV, a DNA virus), was formerly called serum hepatitis, inoculation hepatitis and post-transfusion hepatitis. Infection with HBV may result in acute, fulminant or chronic hepatitis, sometimes even resulting in a chronic asymptomatic carrier state, apart from hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis (Davis 179). The disease is transmitted when an individual comes in contact with infected blood or objects. It may also be transferred from an infected mother to her infant either during or after birth (Zuckerman et al. 211). Transmission may also occur by accidental inoculation from infected needles and hospital equipment, intravenous drug abuse, body piercing, tattooing, and mouth-mouth kissing (Zuckerman et al. 210). The risk of Hepatitis B is particularly high in individuals with multiple sex partners, and in homosexuals. The HBV virus occurs in morphologically different forms in the serum of infected individuals. HBV infection has an incubation period of about 75 days. Systemic symptoms of the disease include fatigue, fever, dyspepsia, arthralgia, malaise, and rash, while local symptoms include hepatomegaly, jaundice, dark urine, and pale stools (Davis 179; Zuckerman et al. 210).
This case study is about Abdul Chidiac, a 51 year old male, married with 4 children. He had a medical history of hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and cirrhosis with two admissions in the last six months. He is a smoker and drinks beer, 5-6 bottles per day. As Carithers & McClain (2010) explained the patient’s medical history is another indicator of the risk for cirrhosis; the progression to cirrhosis is adaptable and may take time over weeks or many years. Cirrhosis is a liver disease characterized by permanent scarring of the liver that interferes with its normal functions including alcoholism. Most people who drink large amounts of alcohol cause harm to the liver in some way (Heidelbaugh & Bruderly, 2006). The cause of cirrhosis is not yet known, but the connection between cirrhosis and excessive alcohol ingestion is established (Jenkins & Johnson, 2010). Common causes of cirrhosis include: alcohol abuse, hepatitis B infection, hepatitis C infection and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (Schuppan & Afdhal, 2008).
Liver is the principal site for protein metabolism. Although the liver plays a vital role in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, its function in protein metabolism is of critical importance, as the failure to do so for more than a few days can result in death. This includes deamination and transamination of amino acids, urea formation to remove ammonia from body fluids, formation of approximately 90% of all plasma proteins, and synthesis of non-essential amino acids (Donohue Jr, 1996).
ons that help maintain our body. Unfortunately, the liver can be subjected to different diseases, such as liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is the result of scar tissue replacing and damaging healthy tissue, this is considered a degenerative disease. According to WebMD, there are at least 31,000 people in the United States that die from liver cirrhosis each year. I believe this disease is important to know and understand because it is caused by lifestyles.
Zein, N. N., & Edwards, K. (2009). The Cleveland Clinic guide to liver disorders. New York: Kaplan Pub.
Digestive Disorders Amebic Dysentry is a disorder in which there is an accumulation of pus located in the liver. This is usually caused by an internal parasite or organism. When dealing with this liver disease there are a few symptoms to look out for. Jaundice, which is something that will make your skin and eyes go yellow is a symptom of Amebic Dysentry.
Alcohol in the form of alcoholic beverages has been consumed by humans since pre-historic times, for a variety of hygiene dietary, medicinal, religions and recreational reasons. According to the NIH Senior Health, drinking too much alcohol affects many parts of the body. It can be especially harmful to the liver, the organ that metabolizes (breaks down) alcohol and other harmful substances. People who drink heavily for a long time can develop diseases such as liver inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis) or severe liver scarring (cirrhosis). Alcohol-related liver disease can cause death. According to the statistics in the year 2010 by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and prevention) the number of discharges with chronic liver disease and cirrhosis as the first-listed diagnosis was 101,000 persons, while the number of deaths has been 31,903 persons.
...sis. Alcoholic hepatitis is when the liver experiences inflammation caused by drinking alcohol. If a person is diagnosed by their doctor with alcoholic hepatitis, they must immediately stop drinking alcohol. People who continue to drink alcohol against the recommendation of their doctor face a high risk of developing serious liver damage that can eventually cause death. Each liver disease is different and can affect each person’s body in different ways. Another affect of alcohol abuse on the liver is Cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is when the liver begins to scare and is no longer able to perform its regular duties. Since the liver has no nerves that identify pain in it, the liver does not feel pain until it is affecting a different part of the body that does. Cirrhosis often has no signs or symptoms until the damage to the liver is extensive and in most cases beyond repair.