Liver Disease Symptoms
The liver is a large, reddish-brown organ that sits mainly in the upper right portion of the abdomen above the stomach and below the diaphragm. Weighing around 1.3 kg in females and 1.8 kg in males, the liver is the largest solid organ in the body.
The liver holds around 13% of the body’s blood supply and performs approximately 500 different functions. The liver is made up of cells called hepatocytes, which absorb nutrients and detoxify the blood by
eliminating harmful substances. The liver is therefore a vital organ for digestion and ridding the body of toxins. Liver disease can occur as an inherited condition or be caused by various factors that lead to liver damage such as viral infection, alcohol use or obesity.
Long-term or chronic liver damage can eventually lead to scarring of the organ, a condition referred to as cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a non-reversible dangerous condition that can lead to liver failure.
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Symptoms of liver disease
Over a hundred different types of liver disease are currently known to exist and symptoms can vary widely depending on whether a patient has hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease fatty liver disease or cirrhosis, for example. Furthermore, symptoms are not always obvious in the early stages of liver disease. Symptoms can be mild and non-specific such as a loss of appetite, fatigue, general malaise, nausea and vomiting or weight loss. Such symptoms may therefore easily be overlooked in a patient with early-stage disease. As liver disease progresses, however, some key clinical features that may manifest include:
Pain in the right upper abdomen
Pain and discomfort may be felt in the upper right side of the abdomen where the liver is located. It may be caused by the liver growing in size due to the accumulation of fat, acute inflammation or any injury that can expand and stretch the sensitive membrane covering the liver.
Hepatomegaly
Liver disease can disrupt blood flow in the liver or cause tumors (benign or malignant) to develop, which adds to the mass of the liver. Some of the most common causes of hepatomegaly are metastatic cancer, hepatomegaly, fatty liver disease and cirrhosis.
Jaundice
Jaundice indicates a yellowing of the skin, whites of the eyes, and nails. The damaged liver fails to adequately process bilirubin, which is the waste product occurring when old red blood cells are broken down.
An excess of bilirubin accumulates in the blood and deposits in the skin, which causes yellowish discoloration.
Symptoms of liver cirrhosis
In the early stages of cirrhosis, symptoms can again be non-specific and mild. Patients may therefore overlook symptoms and attribute them to other conditions.
The term cirrhosis refers to the formation of scar tissue (fibrosis) in place of liver cells that have died as a result of long-term liver damage. This may have occurred due to excess alcohol intake, viral hepatitis or other factors that lead to toxicity of the liver. Liver fibrosis is characterized by the presence of irregular tumors or nodules
that form across what was originally smooth liver tissue. This scarring leads to the
hardening of the liver tissue which prevents blood flow to the liver and affects its funcation.
As cirrhosis develops gradually and often without any obvious symptoms, the condition may go
unnoticed until the damage is severe and likely to lead to liver failure.
Some of the symptoms of liver cirrhosis are described below:
Itching
Also called pruritis, this may be caused by a chemical in the bile that can accumulate in the bloodstream (jaundice).
Although pruritis is a common symptom, it is not always present. When this symptom does accur, it can be distressing and even debilitating, causing an intense itch across the entire skin surface.
Bruising easily
Liver damage can prevent the production of the proteins required for blood clotting which can lead to an increased tendency to bruise or bleed.
Hormone imbalance
A damaged liver may fail to regulate the production and breakdown of hormones. In males this can lead to enlarged breasts (gynecomastia) and shrunken testicles,
while women my find their menstrual cycle is affected.
Spider angiomas are small, spider-like capillaries that are visible just underneath the surface of the skin.
These occur when a person’s estrogen level is increased, which may happen if the liver is failing to adequately metabolize the hormone. Around 33% of people with cirrhosis develop spider angiomas.
Ascites
Ascites refers to the edema or fluid retention that occurs as a result of poor kidney function in cirrhosis. A decline in kidney function leads to the retention of sodium and water.