Living with liver diseases

BENGALURU: India has been witnessing a rise in liver disease cases. Sedentary lifestyle, increase in non-communicable disorders like hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, etc have led liver disease to become the 10th most common cause of death. According to WHO, about 46 per cent of global diseases and 59 per cent of the mortality is caused due to chronic liver diseases, and almost 35 million people globally die of the same. Liver disease is when your liver is inflamed or its normal functioning is affected due to virus, drugs or genetic factors. 

Symptoms
The liver secretes bile that helps in absorbing nutrients from food, purifying toxins from the blood, controlling blood sugar and hormonal levels, breaking down fats, alcohol and medications. Any interference caused disrupts the normal functioning of the liver and you may experience loss of appetite, nausea, chronic fatigue, dark urine or pale stools, yellowish skin and eyes, and bloody or tar-coloured stool. Swelling in the legs and ankles with fluid, edema, is associated with liver disease due to lack of enough albumin or low serum albumin. 

Common liver diseases
Acute Viral Hepatitis or liver inflammation caused by either hepatitis A, B, C, D, E is a common liver infection that take about 4-8 weeks to cure 

Chronic Hepatitis or liver inflammation due to hepatitis B & C viruses and certain drugs lasts for 6 or more months and may result in liver cirrhosis and failure if untreated

Fatty Liver Disease is caused due to excess fat in the liver Liver Cirrhosis is characterised by abnormal functioning and structure due to excess alcohol and hepatitis B & C and leads to loss of liver cells and liver scarring (fibrosis).  In advance cirrhosis, liver transplantation is the only treatment option. 

 Liver Cancer happens due to abnormal growth of the liver cells and is common among people with chronic liver disease.

Prevention
Keep your liver healthy by maintaining ideal body weight and reduced alcohol consumption. A person with liver disease should avail immediate treatment to maximise liver functioning and slow down damage. Liver failure can be fatal and prevented by limiting risk of cirrhosis or hepatitis. 

Treatment
Diagnosis at an initial stage can help. Doctors recommend liver function blood test, imaging tests to scan any damage,  and biopsy for diagnosis. The treatment method depends on the severity of the disease and may require medication and surgery (if advised), and lifestyle modifications. Liver can regenerate and come back to normalcy after a certain point of time. However, scarring damages the tissues of the liver, which in turn fails to regenerate. This is common in chronic liver disease cases and requires liver transplantation. 

Hospitals provide supportive care that allows the doctor to treat the symptoms of the patient with liver failure (diagnosed with liver disease caused by a virus) until the virus runs its course. (The author is director, Institute of Digestive and HPB Sciences, Sakra World Hospital)

Risk factors
 Excessive alcohol consumption
 Unsafe blood transfusion 
 Sharing needles or other drug-injection equipment
 Unprotected sex 
 Diabetes 
 Obesity
 Herbal / Hepatotoxic medications