Liver diseases, or hepatic diseases, include a series of pathologies accumulated by damage to cells, tissues and / or liver functions.
Symptoms
Symptoms most commonly associated with liver disease include:
- jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the skin and eye sclerae);
- loss of appetite;
- fatigue, malaise and significant weight loss;
- dark colored urine or light colored stools.
Other symptoms common to various liver diseases are: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, varicose veins, low blood sugar, low-grade fever, muscle aches and loss of sexual desire.
Pain in the liver, perceived in the center-upper right abdominal region, generally arises only in an advanced phase of the disease process; this symptom is in fact associated with the "volumetric increase" of the organ, especially when it occurs abruptly (acute hepatitis).
A rare and particularly severe infectious liver disease, called fulminant hepatitis, causes liver failure, with the appearance of symptoms such as: ascites (accumulation of fluid inside the abdomen), coagulation disorders with a tendency to bleed, general weakening of the body , muscle atrophy and weakness, neurological changes (encephalopathy), splenomegaly (enlarged spleen), widespread edema and aplastic anemia.
Causes
Liver diseases can be caused by congenital defects (present from birth) or acquired, for example by the toxic action of alcohol, drugs or toxins, or by nutritional deficiencies, trauma, metabolic disorders and bacterial or viral infections.
Among alcoholics, for example, liver diseases such as alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis and fatty liver or fatty liver (also common in the obese) are common.
The most common liver diseases
Liver inflammation caused mainly by viruses (A, B, C, D, E), but also attributable to intoxication (alcohol, drugs, poisons, etc.), autoimmune diseases (autoimmune hepatitis) and hereditary conditions.
Excessive accumulation of fat within the organ; it is an often asymptomatic and common disease among obese people; only in a small percentage of cases it can evolve into steatohepatitis or cirrhosis, especially if there are predisposing factors.
Hereditary disease caused by the "accumulation of iron" in the body, which can cause significant damage to the liver and other organs.
This severe liver disease determines an increase in volume of the organ, which in advanced stages is such as to produce pain. It is frequently associated with liver cirrhosis.
It is a hereditary disease linked to an accumulation of copper in the tissues, especially in the brain and liver.
Inflammatory disease of the bile ducts, probably of autoimmune origin. As a result of the inflammatory process, the ducts narrow, hindering the outflow of bile, which accumulates in the liver damaging its cells.
Autoimmune disease affecting the intrahepatic biliary tract. The accumulation and stagnation of bile causes this liver disease to cause damage to the liver parenchyma, which in the long term evolves into cirrhosis.
Genetic disorder that alters the metabolism of bilirubin, increasing its concentrations in the circulation.
Hereditary disease characterized by the accumulation of glycogen in the skeletal muscle, the nervous system, the heart and the liver, compromising their normal function.
