Posts Tagged ‘Liver disease’
What is Hepatitis C?
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a liver disease that makes the liver swell and stop functioning properly.
You need a healthy liver because the liver has many functions to keep you alive. The liver fights infections and stops bleeding, removes drugs and other toxic substances from the bloodstream and also stores energy for use when necessary.
What causes hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is caused by a virus. A virus is a germ that causes disease. (For example, influenza is caused by a virus). People can transmit the virus to others. That causes hepatitis C virus is called hepatitis C.
How can I get hepatitis C?
You can get hepatitis C by sharing needles to inject drugs. Hepatitis C is spread through contact with the blood of an infected person.
You can get hepatitis C by:
- Receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood.
- Sharing needles to inject drugs.
- Pricked with a needle contaminated with infected blood (hospital staff can get hepatitis C this way).
- Getting a tattoo or piercing in a body part with dirty tools that were used with others. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: hepatitis, Hepatitis C, How can I get hepatitis C?, How can I protect myself from hepatitis C?, How is hepatitis C?, Liver disease, What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?, What are the tests to diagnose hepatitis C?, What causes hepatitis C?, What is Hepatitis C? | 
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Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease
The treatment of alcoholic liver disease is the ultimate and complete abstinence from alcohol. The benefit of quitting drinking is evident even in patients with advanced liver disease (cirrhosis).
- Alcoholic fatty liver
Patients with alcoholic fatty liver can progress to significant degrees of fibrosis or cirrhosis, which applies permanent treatment withdrawal alcohol consumption.
- Cirrhosis
The treatment of alcoholic liver cirrhosis, including the prevention and management of each of the specific complications of cirrhosis, similar to cirrhosis of other reasons. Liver transplantation is a treatment option in those individuals who have stopped drinking. The use of colchicine, while it is argued, may be an option, since it is fairly well tolerated. Propylthiouracil and metadoxina not commonly used in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease. Read the rest of this entry »
Alcoholic Liver Disease: Fatty Liver and Others
Fatty liver
Hepatic steatosis or fatty liver is common in people who drink alcohol excessively and can occur even after a single binge. Can be diagnosed with imaging tests such as abdominal ultrasound. Most often patients are asymptomatic. Is a reversible condition to stop drinking.
Alcoholic hepatitis
Alcoholic hepatitis is a major complication of excessive alcohol consumption, which can have a high mortality rate when it meets criteria of severity. Is usually suspected with the clinical picture of a person with a history of alcohol abuse. The clinical picture usually includes mild fever (<38 °), anorexia, jaundice and hepatomegaly. Read the rest of this entry »
Alcoholic Liver Disease: Alcoholism
Alcohol in excess is one of the most common causes of liver cirrhosis.
Alcoholic liver disease encompasses a broad range of events covering a wide spectrum, from asymptomatic fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis and decompensated liver cirrhosis with ascites, variceal hemorrhage or encephalopathy.
General
While most people drink alcohol in any amount, only some develop liver damage. Epidemiological studies have defined that requires a minimal amount of alcohol intake for the development of alcoholic liver disease. The above limit is 80 g of alcohol daily for 10 to 20 years. This is about 1 liter of wine, 300 ml of liquor (whiskey, pisco, rum, etc) or 8 beers. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Liver Disease | Tags: Alcoholic Liver Disease, Alcoholic Liver Disease: Alcoholism, alcoholism, Liver disease | No Comments »
Malignant liver tumor
Liver cancer may be primary or secondary (metastasis from other cancers).
It is a malignant tumor developed at the expense either of liver cells (hepatocellular carcinoma) or bile duct cells (cholangiocarcinoma) or blood vessels (angiosarcoma).
The primary liver cancer was rare in Europe and America, but its frequency is increasing rapidly (5000 cases per year in France) because of the hepatitis C epidemic and is more common in Africa and Asia.
- Hepatocellular carcinoma, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver tumors, and it occurs in 20% of a healthy liver, liver more frequently diagnosed with a pre-existing liver disease (cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis) . Unlike Europe, where alcoholic cirrhosis is the main cause of this type of tumor, in the countries of Africa and Asia, HCC is often linked to hepatitis B and C, sometimes to the pollution of food, including aflatoxin. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: blood vessels, Chemotherapy, Hepatitis C, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver cancer, liver cells, Liver disease, Tumor | No Comments »