What is cirrhosis?

Cirrhosis is liver scarring. It occurs when scar tissue takes the place of healthy liver tissue, which can occur with repeated damage to the liver. With cirrhosis, your blood can’t flow through your liver normally, leading to liver dysfunction. Without treatment, your cirrhosis could advance until your liver stops working completely.

What are the symptoms of cirrhosis?

Cirrhosis is often asymptomatic until you have severe liver damage. At that point, you may experience symptoms such as:

• Poor appetite
• Nausea
• Unintended weight loss
• Tendency to bleed and bruise easily
• Jaundice (yellowing skin and eyes)
• Itching
• Prominent threadlike blood vessels
• Red palms
• Confusion

If you have any of these symptoms, book an appointment at Richmond Gastroenterology Associates soon. The sooner that you get a cirrhosis diagnosis, the better you can protect your liver and your bodywide health.  

Early treatment can help you avoid cirrhosis complications such as portal hypertension, liver cancer, kidney failure, and liver failure. 

What causes cirrhosis?

Cirrhosis can happen in many ways, with a few of the most common causes of cirrhosis including liver disorders and other factors such as:

• Long-term alcohol abuse
• Chronic hepatitis B or C
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Fat buildup in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver)
• Inherited diseases like Wilson’s disease and cystic fibrosis
• Bile duct disease (primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and others)

The Richmond Gastroenterology Associates team can diagnose the cause of your cirrhosis through lab tests, imaging studies, and sometimes a biopsy. 

How is cirrhosis treated?

Cirrhosis treatment centers around addressing the underlying disease and managing your symptoms. The team may prescribe medication to prevent or treat complications as well. In late-stage cirrhosis, the liver may stop working, which means you can’t clear toxins from your body.

If this happens, a liver transplant — removing and replacing your liver with one from a deceased donor or a partial liver from a living donor — may be the only solution. However, not everyone is a good candidate for a liver transplant, and there can be a long wait to get a donor liver. So it’s always best to take the very best care of your liver possible before you get to that stage. 

The Richmond Gastroenterology Associates team has broad-ranging experience in all aspects of liver disease and is here to help with every stage of cirrhosis. Book your appointment by calling the office nearest to you or clicking the online booking feature now.