Cirrhosis is a late stage of liver scarring (fibrosis) induced by a variety of diseases and disorders, including hepatitis and chronic alcoholism. When your liver is wounded, whether from disease, too much alcohol, or something else, it tries to heal itself. Scar tissue arises as a result of this process. Cirrhosis causes scar tissue to grow, which makes it harder for the liver to function (decompensated cirrhosis). Cirrhosis in its advanced stages can be fatal.
Cirrhosis causes liver damage that cannot be reversed. Further damage can be reduced and, in rare cases, reversed if liver cirrhosis is discovered early and the cause is addressed. Cirrhosis often has no symptoms until the liver has been severely damaged. When signs and symptoms do appear, they can include the following:
• Tiredness.
• Prone to bruising or bleeding.
• Appetite loss
• Nausea is a problem.
• Legs, feet, or ankles that swell (edema).
• Loss of weight.
• Dry, itchy skin
• Skin and eye discolouration (yellow) (jaundice).
• A build-up of fluid in your abdomen (ascites).
• Spider-like blood vessels on the surface of your skin
• Palms of the hands are warm.
• For women, menopause is not associated with the absence or loss of menstruation.
• Loss of sex desire, gynecomastia (breast enlargement), or testicular atrophy in men.
• Slurred speech, tiredness, and confusion (hepatic encephalopathy).
CAUSES
Cirrhosis can be caused by a variety of diseases and disorders that affect the liver.
The following are some of the reasons:
• Alcoholism that is chronic.
• Hepatitis caused by a virus that has been present for a long time (hepatitis B, C and D).
• Fat build-up in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease).
• The accumulation of iron in the body (hemochromatosis).
• Cystic fibrosis is a disease that affects the lungs.
• Wilson’s disease is a condition in which copper accumulates in the liver.
• Bile ducts that aren’t properly formed (biliary atresia).
• Deficiency in alpha-1 antitrypsin.
• Sugar metabolism diseases that are inherited (galactosemia or glycogen storage disease).
• Digestive disorder caused by a genetic mutation (Alagille syndrome).
• Liver illness caused by the immunological system of your body (autoimmune hepatitis).
• The bile ducts are destroyed (primary biliary cirrhosis).
• Bile duct hardening and scarring (primary sclerosing cholangitis).
• Infections like syphilis and brucellosis
• Anti-inflammatories, such as methotrexate or isoniazid.
RISK FACTORS
– Imbibing excessive amounts of booze. Cirrhosis is linked to excessive alcohol intake.
– Being overweight is a problem. Obesity raises the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, both of which can develop to cirrhosis.
– Hepatitis caused by a virus. Cirrhosis does not develop in everyone with chronic hepatitis, although it is one of the most common causes of liver disease worldwide.
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