In people with acute liver failure, the liver rapidly loses its function. Know what the signs, symptoms and treatment are.
World Liver Day 2023: The liver has many functions. The most important of these include producing bile, storing glycogen, and removing toxins from the bloodstream. Liver failure can be chronic or acute. In people with acute liver failure, the liver rapidly loses its function. In those with chronic liver failure, the liver loses function over a longer period. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of liver disorders are necessary.
What is Acute Liver Failure?
In this case, the liver loses its functional capability within a few weeks or even days. This condition occurs in people who do not have any pre-existing liver conditions.
How can it occur?
There can be multiple reasons behind acute liver failure:
- Substance overdose, which makes the liver overwhelmed and impaired. Certain substances that can harm the liver almost instantly are acetaminophen, toxins, herbal supplements, mushroom poisoning and certain medications.
- Metabolic diseases such as Wilson disease and acute fatty liver of pregnancy can cause acute liver failure
- Autoimmune diseases -liver failure can be caused by autoimmune hepatitis
- Viral hepatitis: liver infections by different infections such as hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, hepatitis C & hepatitis E
- Other causes of acute liver failure are Vascular diseases, such as Budd-Chiari syndrome, can cause blockages in the veins of the liver, cancer, infections & sepsis
What Should be The Immediate Steps?
Acute liver failure leads to sudden increases in feelings of nausea and vomiting, along with fogginess and disorientation in the mind, yellowish discoloration of urine and eye, swollen belly (fluid in abdomen) and pain in upper abdomen. The symptoms worsen day by day, culminating in an emergency. As soon as a person realizes that he/she may be experiencing liver failure, they must rush to a hospital for treatment.
Treatment
- Stabilization: This is done to make the patient’s vitals, such as blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels, come back to normal.
- Diagnosis: The second step includes the diagnosis of the cause and severity of disease that led to acute liver failure.
- Treatment: The third phase involves treating the cause with medications and if patient not improved with medications then liver transplant is required as emergency life saving method.
- Therapy: A liver-support therapy such as the use of a dialysis machine may be required for some extreme cases.
- Monitoring: Lastly, the patient is monitored to keep their vitals stable and check the efficiency of the treatment. The patient may be required to follow a strict lifestyle for a few months of recover
(Inputs: Dr. Shankar Lal Jat, Consultant Gastroenterology, Manipal Hospital, Jaipur)