Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis

       The term cirrhosis defines a faction of chronic diseases of the liver. It causes severe damage to the liver cells, replacing normal tissue with scar tissue, thus decreasing the amount of cells that function normally. Liver cirrhosis will, slowly but surely, lead to the complete destruction of your liver function.

       The liver is the meeting place for all the toxins in your body, as well as some major arteries and veins. The scar tissue that appears due to liver cirrhosis profoundly interferes with the blood flow in the organ itself. The damage done, even over a short period of time, is rather astonishing, everything leading to liver - failure, which basically puts a damper on some fairly important functions.

       The aspect of a normal liver is soft and smooth, sort of like a spongy mass, with a slight dark red coloration, sometimes bordering on light brown. It is connected to the small intestine by the bile duct, thus transporting the bile formed in the liver to the intestines.

       It is important to remember that the liver is the one organ in the body that basically filters everything, from toxins to blood, turning them from poison for the body into more manageable variations of useful substances, like proteins, glucose, amino acids and lipids: the polluted blood that leaves the stomach, the one that comes from the intestines (full of bacteria and useless matter) and even the alcohol that you drink is passed through its cells. This is the reason why the liver is called "the body's largest chemical factory".

       Some of its more important functions include:

• the production of clotting factors, blood proteins, bile and more than a thousand different enzymes;
• the breakdown of old blood cells;
• the metabolism of cholesterol;
• the storage of energy (glycogen) to fuel muscles;
• maintenance of normal blood sugar concentration;
• the regulation of several hormones;
• detoxification of drugs and poisons (that includes alcohol).

       Even with just a modest knowledge of the livers' anatomy, you can see that it is one of the vital organs of the body. Therefore, every and any damage caused by liver cirrhosis or other liver diseases is surely leading to whole body organ failure, eventually.

Liver cirrhosis treatment, causes and symptoms

       As in every disease out there, there are two types of causes: the first ones are self - inflicted, and the second ones are genetic.

       From the first category, the most well known and common is chronic alcoholism. In the United States of America alone, there are more than 50000 different Alcoholic Anonymous associations, about 150 million alcoholics (in different stages of this condition) and many others that, due to depression and low life quality, are quickly becoming addicted to this destructive substance.

       When talking about the factors that cause liver cirrhosis, belonging in an intermediary category, not entirely self - inflicted and not completely genetic, you must always be on the lookout for chronic viral hepatitis (types B, C and D).

       Clearly contenders on the second category are a number of inherited diseases that, by creating some sort of liver injury, lead to liver cirrhosis: cystic fibrosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hemochromatosis, Wilson's disease, galactosemia, and glycogen storage disease. There are two genetic diseases that result in an unnatural storage of metals in your liver cells, causing tissue damage and liver cirrhosis. For example, if you have Wilson's disease, your liver, brain, kidney, cornea cells store excessive amounts of copper. In hematochromatosis, iron is the guilty party.

       Other less known causes of liver cirrhosis, but still important, are bile duct blockage (in adults) and biliary atresia (in newborns). Liver cirrhosis is a dangerous disease with little to no symptoms in its first stages. But when they do appear, they tend to be a sign of a fully developed disease: fatigue, weakness and exhaustion. Lose of appetite and decreases in weight are rapidly followed by jaundice and blotting, indicating the final stages of this deadly illness.

       The treatment of this type of cirrhosis is tricky: it depends on the class and the stage of the disease. Its main goal is to stop the developing of the condition, reversing the damage done (if possible) and, finally, removing the destroyed parts of the liver.