Cirrhosis

The condition where the healthy tissues of the liver are damaged and the scarred tissue is left back causing the blood flow to the liver is known as cirrhosis.

It is a slow and gradual process that finally leads the liver to stop functioning completely. This can result in the inability of the liver to have a control on the infections as well as clotting of the blood. A liver in this state also prevents the passage of bile that is required of digestion into the small intestine.

Cirrhosis occurs in people due to three major reasons;

• Intake of alcohol in excessive quantities.
• Obesity
• hepatitis C

The other triggers for cirrhosis are:

• autoimmune hepatitis
• heart failure
• genetic conditions that occur very rarely like haemochromatosis as well as Wilson’s disease
• Any condition that can lead to the blockage of bile ducts.

Symptoms

The symptoms of liver cirrhosis appear only when the tissues of the liver are corrupted and the liver does not function in a natural way. The symptoms are:

• Weakness
• Tiredness
• Nausea
• Vomitting
• Appetite loss
• Fluid retention in abdomen
• Fluid retention in legs
• Loss of weight
• Jaundice
• Easy bruising
• Itching
• Personality change because the toxins present in the blood affects the brain.

The symptoms that are visible in advanced stages are:

• Blood being vomited due to the presence of the gullet veins that are ruptured.
• Intensely black and tarry faeces
• Fever
• Shivering attacks
• Increased sensitivity to drugs
• Increased sensitivity to intake of alcohol
• Episodes of memory loss
• Episode of confusion
• Loss of weight from upper arms as well as body.

Causes

Cirrhosis may occur due to;

Intake of alcohol in excessive quantities. This can result in the destruction of the cells in the liver that helps in breaking down of the toxins. Women who have the habit of excessive intake of alcohol have higher chances of developing cirrhosis than men.
Hepatitis C can damage the liver, which develops into cirrhosis over a period of time.
Other infections like Hepatitis D and Hepatitis B can also result in liver cirrhosis.
heart failure that can result in hypertension as well as liver congestion
autoimmune hepatitis
Rarely found genetic disorders like Wilson’s disease, where the accumulation of copper is in excessive quantities as well as Haemochromatosis, where the accumulation of iron is more than normal in the body.
Blockage of the bile ducts due to pancreatic cancer or cancer in the bile ducts.
Exposure to certain environmental toxins and poison
Intake of drugs like heroin in excess quantities

Treatment

The condition called cirrhosis does not have any treatment. The damage that occurs to the liver is not a repairable one. But the causes of cirrhosis can be treated depending on the basic reason for cirrhosis. If cirrhosis has developed due to Wilson’s disease, the removal of extra copper from the body soothes cirrhosis.

The symptoms of cirrhosis can also be soothed. The fluid retention can be reduced by intake of low salt diet.

Only very few complications associated with the final stage of cirrhosis can be cured using treatments like endoscopy.