What is cirrhosis?
Cirrhosis is a late stage of scarring (fibrosis) of the liver caused by many forms of liver diseases and conditions, such as hepatitis and chronic alcoholism.
Each time your liver is injured — whether by disease, excessive alcohol consumption or another cause — it tries to repair itself. In the process, scar tissue forms. As cirrhosis progresses, more and more scar tissue forms, making it difficult for the liver to function (decompensated cirrhosis).
Advanced cirrhosis is life-threatening.
Symptoms of cirrhosis may include:
- Fatigue
- Easily bleeding or bruising
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Swelling in your legs, feet or ankles (edema)
- Weight loss
- Itchy skin
- Yellow discoloration in the skin and eyes (jaundice)
- Fluid accumulation in your abdomen (ascites)
- Spiderlike blood vessels on your skin
- Redness in the palms of the hands
- Confusion, drowsiness and slurred speech (hepatic encephalopathy)
- For women, absent or loss of periods not related to menopause
- For men, loss of sex drive, breast enlargement (gynecomastia) or testicular atrophy
Causes
A wide range of diseases and conditions can damage the liver and lead to cirrhosis.
Some of the causes include:
- Chronic alcohol abuse
- Chronic viral hepatitis (hepatitis B, C and D)
- Fat accumulating in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease)
- Iron buildup in the body (hemochromatosis)
- Cystic fibrosis
- Copper accumulated in the liver (Wilson's disease)
- Biliary atresia
- Genetic digestive disorder (Alagille syndrome)
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Infection
- Primary biliary cirrhosis
Excessive alcohol consumption is a risk factor for cirrhosis.
Being obese increases your risk of conditions that may lead to cirrhosis. Not everyone with chronic hepatitis will develop cirrhosis, but it's one of the world's leading causes of liver disease.
Source:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cirrhosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351487
