12 Liver Diseases
12 00 Cirrhosis
12 01 Fatty liver
12 02 Hepatitis
12 03 Hepatitis A
12 04 Hepatitis B
12 05 Hepatitis C
12 06 Hepatitis E
12 10 Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Your liver is the largest organ inside your body. It helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. There are many kinds of liver diseases. Diseases caused by viruses, such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. Diseases caused by drugs, poisons, or too much alcohol, such as fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Inherited diseases and liver cancer. Symptoms of liver disease can vary, but they often include swelling of the abdomen and legs, bruising easily, changes in the color of your stool and urine, and jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes. Sometimes, there are no symptoms.
When you have found your disease or condition, you look for the treatment color. The treatment colors are magenta (red-blue), blue, cyan (blue-green), green, yellow (red-green), and red. I give the treatment colors a number. Magenta = 0, blue = 1, cyan = 2, green = 3, yellow = 4, and red = 5. Cirrhosis would then be categorized as 12-00-4. Here, the last digit, the treatment color, is yellow. The first two digits are the disease/condition group (Liver Diseases are 12). The next two digits (Cirrhosis is 00) are the illness within the group, and the last digit (yellow is 4) is the treatment color.
When you use the projector, click on your treatment color, and a large image of it will appear. Make the color cover the whole page and project it onto yourself. When you use the LED light bulb, you choose your color manually.
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, scar tissue forms, making it difficult for the liver to function (decompensated cirrhosis). Advanced cirrhosis is a life-threatening development that can be fatal.
Fatty liver disease means your liver has extra fat. Your doctor might call it Hepatic Steatosis.
Heavy drinking makes you more likely to get it. Over time, too much alcohol leads to a buildup of fat inside your liver cells. As a result, it makes it harder for your liver to work.
A fatty liver means you have fat in your liver, but you may not have any inflammation or damage to your liver cells. So, it usually doesn’t get worse or cause problems with your liver.
The liver is one of the vital organs of your body, sitting right under your rib cage at the right-hand side of the abdomen. It performs some of the most important physiological functions of the body, from flushing out toxins and processing nutrients to filtering out blood and fighting infection. Therefore, any significant damage to this organ can be life-threatening.
Your liver can be affected by many factors like genetic issues, immunological disorders, cancer, lifestyle disorders like poor eating habits and alcohol habits, and viral infections.
Hepatitis is one of the most common conditions that damage the liver. Simply put, it is a condition that leads to inflammation in the liver.
Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. The virus is one of several hepatitis viruses that cause inflammation and affect your liver’s ability to function.
You’re most likely to get hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with a person or object that’s infected. Mild cases of hepatitis A don’t require treatment. Most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage.
One of the best ways to protect against hepatitis A is to practice good hygiene, including washing hands frequently.
Hepatitis B is a severe liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). For some people, hepatitis B infection becomes chronic, meaning it lasts more than six months. Having chronic hepatitis B increases your risk of developing liver failure, liver cancer, or cirrhosis — a condition that permanently scars the liver.
Most adults with hepatitis B recover fully, even if their signs and symptoms are severe. However, infants and children are more likely to develop a chronic (long-lasting) hepatitis B infection.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver inflammation, sometimes leading to severe liver damage. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) spreads through contaminated blood.
Until recently, hepatitis C treatment required weekly injections and oral medications that many HCV-infected people couldn’t take because of other health problems or unacceptable side effects.
That’s changing. Today, chronic HCV is usually curable with oral medications taken every day for two to six months.
Hepatitis E is liver inflammation caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV). The virus has at least four types: genotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Genotypes 1 and 2 have been found only in humans. However, genotypes 3 and 4 circulate in several animals, including pigs, wild boars, and deer, without causing any disease and occasionally infect humans.
The virus is shed in the stools of infected persons and enters the human body through the intestine. It is transmitted mainly through contaminated drinking water. The infection is usually self-limiting and resolves within two to six weeks. However, occasionally, a severe disease known as fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure) develops, which can be fatal.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an umbrella term for various liver conditions affecting people who drink little to no alcohol. As the name implies, the main characteristic of NAFLD is that too much fat is stored in liver cells.
NAFLD is increasingly common around the world, especially in Western nations. In the United States, it is the most common form of chronic liver disease, affecting about one-quarter of the population.