JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. My name is Dr. Justin Davis. Today I would like to tell you a little bit about a condition known as liver disease. Now liver disease is actually not one single condition but a collection of many different diseases that can affect the liver. The liver is a large and very important organ located in the abdomen, specifically the right and upper part of the abdomen. The liver has a number of very important responsibilities for the body; some of those are in digestion, in breaking down poisonous toxins in the body, in breaking down blood products such as bilirubin, and also clotting of the blood and in glucose metabolism. So as you can imagine, if something goes wrong with the liver, there is a number of different problems or symptoms that you may have. Let me tell you about a number of these conditions that can cause liver diseases. The first one is hepatitis. Hepatitis is when the cells of the liver become inflamed and are not properly functioning. Now many things can cause hepatitis but the most common are different kinds of viruses. There is hepatitis A. Hepatitis A is usually from contaminated food or water and usually is not life threatening and usually gets better after a few weeks or a few months. Other kinds of more serious hepatitis are hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and there are even other kinds such as D and E hepatitis. These are all caused by different kind of viruses, some of them more treatable than others and some of them such as hepatitis B can be completely prevented if you receive the vaccine against hepatitis B. Other liver diseases are cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is when the liver begins to decline in its function and also its architectural structure from chronic inflammation. This is usually cause by excessive alcohol consumption over a long period of time and sometimes by other chronic infections even some of the hepatitides. Other problems and diseases that can occur with the liver are when you have liver cancer; there is primary and there is secondary liver cancer. Primary liver cancer is when you actually have a cancer that arises from cells in the liver. A secondary liver cancer is when cells from a different cancer in a different part of the body metastasize or move into the liver. You can also have acute liver failure. Acute liver failure can be caused by different kinds of metabolic problems that happen in the body or toxins that poison the liver and cause it to fail. You can also have autoimmune disorders that
affect the liver and cause liver disease, and these are different kinds of diseases where your body is not functioning properly, and some of your immune cells attack the liver and possibly other parts of the body causing disease. There are also infections that cause liver disease. Some of these can be from a blockage of some of the ducts that go to the liver and cause a rising infection which can quickly cause liver damage if not treated properly. Also, you can have parasitic infections that affect the liver and cause a liver disease. These are commonly acquired not in the United States but for people traveling outside of the United States in different tropical countries. Well what are the symptoms of liver disease? Well, the symptoms can vary tremendously depending upon what kind of liver disease you have and how it is affecting the liver. Some of the more common symptoms of liver disease may be jaundice, that is when your body turns yellow or your eyes turn yellow because you are not properly getting rid of the substance called bilirubin. Other symptoms maybe loss of appetite, a bloating or pain in the abdomen, especially the upper right abdomen. If your blood clotting factors are not working properly, you could experience excessive bleeding. You could also experience bleeding from your throat or your neck or have enlarged blood vessels and veins on your stomach or on your neck. This can also be a result in different kinds of liver disease. Whatever it is, liver disease can be quite serious in its acute stages and when not treated properly that is why it is always very important to prevent getting liver disease. Most kinds of liver disease, except for of course certain kinds of autoimmune diseases or certain kinds of cancers, can be prevented if proper steps are taken. That means, for example, avoiding, if you are traveling in a foreign country, certain areas that you may get a parasitic infection or hepatitis A, or avoiding activities such as unprotected sex or use of unclean needles to prevent certain kinds of hepatitis. There are all sorts of liver diseases and all kinds of ways to prevent liver disease if you take careful care in your normal hygiene and care of your body. So what should you do if you think that perhaps you are experiencing symptoms of liver disease? Well, usually you are very sick when you have liver disease at least in its advance stages, so that commonly will take you to a doctor and the doctor can run a number of tests and
let you know if you do have a liver disease and what kind it is. It is always very important not to ignore this because the liver is a very important organ and without it, none of us would survive.
