Prevention is still the best treatment for liver cirrhosis

The liver is essential in keeping the body functioning properly. It removes poisons, germs and bacteria from the blood, produces immune agents to control infection, makes proteins that regulate blood clotting and produces bile to help absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamins. You cannot live without a functioning liver.

It is one of the organs in the body that is capable of regenerating itself, recovering to almost its original size in as early as two weeks after liver surgery. Because of its important role metabolizing toxic substances in the body, the liver is prone to a lot of damage from environmental and infectious causes. And one of the most dreaded complications of prolonged and sustained liver injuries is liver cirrhosis.

Liver cirrhosis, the topic of the 184th medical forum sponsored by the Tan Yan Kee Foundation and the Association of Asia Brewery Medical Scholars, is a change in the structure of the liver brought about by repeated liver injury either due to viral infection (hepatitis B and C), metabolic (fatty liver), autoimmune (primary biliary cirrhosis) and environmental (alcohol intake) causes.

“The response of the liver to injury is very much like our skin. When an injury occurs, the natural reaction of our body is to form a scar. However, when the injury is repeated many times over a long period, the scar tissue will not have time to be reabsorbed and majority of the liver tissue will be replaced by scar tissue. This injury is called cirrhosis,” said Dr. Stephen Wong of Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center and the University of Santo Tomas Hospital.

“The onset of cirrhosis significantly increases a patient’s risk to develop other complications of liver disease such as gastrointestinal bleeding due to varices or peptic ulcer, swelling of the abdomen and feet due to accumulation of water, jaundice, and most importantly, the development of liver cancer,” explained Wong, the forum’s resource speaker.

“The most frequent cause of chronic liver disease is hepatitis B infection, which is present in 16 percent of the country’s population. Another disease that changes dietary habits and lifestyle is fatty liver disease.”

“Liver disease can be prevented. People who have first or even second degree relatives who have been diagnosed to have hepatitis B, liver disease or liver cancer should have themselves screened for hepatitis B and C since it is known that these two viruses can be transmitted through childbirth and sex. On the other hand, patients who have been diagnosed to have hepatitis B or C should encourage family members specially the spouse and children to be screened to know if they have developed the infection early,” Wong said.

Fatty liver is also an emerging cause of cirrhosis and is ore common among patients who are obese, diabetic, dyslipidemic, and hypertensive.

“Patients who have these risk factors should be encouraged to have regular checks of their liver as well as aggressive lifestyle and dietary modifications in order to curb the development or progression of liver disease. Although liver cirrhosis and its complications should be feared, increase awareness of its risk factors by patients and primary care physicians alike should lead to a decrease in the incidence of these complications by stopping the disease on its track,” Wong advised.

Source: Philippine Star