Liver disease causes

Steatohepatitis A severe form of liver disease caused by fat deposition in the liver, characterized by hepatic inflammation that may rapidly progress to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. 

Persons who have chronic liver disease (e.g., persons with chronic liver disease caused by hepatitis B or C and... 

Hoet, P. et al., Epidemic of liver disease caused by hydrochlorofluorocarbons used as ozone-sparing substitutes of chlorofluorocarbons, Lancet, 350, 556, 1997. 

Perrillo, R., C. Tamburro, P. Regenstein, et al., Low-dose titratable interferon alfa in decompensated liver disease caused by chronic infection with hepatitis B virus. Gastroenterology, 1995.109 908-16. 

Liver transplantation not only removes the continued risk of variceal bleeding, but also eliminates the underlying liver disease causing portal hypertension. However, due to the scarcity of liver donors, limited financial resources and the life-long immunosuppression required, this major surgical intervention can only rarely be considered - perhaps in cases where a previous shunt operation or the creation of a TIPS was not possible. The survival rate for transplantation is higher than when recurrent bleeding is treated by repeated sclerotherapy (73% versus 17% after 4 years). The indication for transplantation (e. g. cirrhosis Child B or C) should be set as early as possible, (s. p. 872)... 

Sponseller, C.A., Bacon, B.R., di Bisc lle, AJM. Chnical improvement in patients with decompensated liver disease caused by hepatitis B after treatment with lamivudine. Liver Transplant. 2000 6 715—720... 

Vitamin E plays an important role in cell metabolism as an antioxidant for the elimination of reactive oxygen intermediates. Subsequent to intestinal resorption, vitamin E is transported in chylomicrons into the liver, from where it reaches other organs together with VLDL. Vitamin E deficiency is observed in chronic liver diseases caused by alcohol, Wilson s disease, haemochromatosis and abetalipoproteinaemia. In vitamin E deficiency, neurologic disturbances (areflexia, dysbasia, ocular palsy, reduced perception of vibration) occur haemolysis can likewise be induced or become more pronounced due to epoxide formation of unsaturated fatty acids within the erythrocyte membranes. 

Brandt M, Schmidt E, Schmidt FW. Chronische Lebererkrankung dutch laugjahrige Intoxikation in Haushalt mit Pentachlorphenol. [Chronic liver disease caused by long term household pokoning with pentachlor-ophenol.] Verb Dtsch Ges Inn Med 1977 83 1609-11. 

In obstructive jaundice, cholestatic jaundice, hepatitis, and cirrhosis there is an increased excretion of predominantly coproporphyrin-I, because liver disease causes a diversion of the secretion of coproporphyrin-I from the biliary to the renal route. ... 

Hepatitis liver disease caused by a virus. Hepatoprotective protector of essential hver functions. 

Pharmacology In vitro studies show that milk thistle reduces lipid peroxidation, scavenges free radicals, enhances superoxide dismutase, inhibits formation of leukotrienes, and increases hepatocyte RNA polymerase activity. In animal models, milk thistle protects against liver injury caused by alcohol, acetaminophen, and amanita mushrooms. The outcomes of clinical trials in patients with liver disease caused by alcohol have been mixed. In viral hepatitis and liver injury caused by amanita mushrooms, results of clinical trials have been mainly favorable. A commercial preparation of silybin (an isomer of silymarin) is available in some countries as an antidote to Amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning. 

Cirrhosis Chronic liver disease caused by chronic ethanol poisoning. Other hepatox-icants may also cause cirrhosis. 

Bile acids have two major functions in man (a) they form a catabolic pathway of cholesterol metabolism, and (b) they play an essential role in intestinal absorption of fat, cholesterol, and fat-soluble vitamins. These functions may be so vital that a genetic mutant with absence of bile acids, if at all developed, is obviously incapable of life, and therefore this type of inborn error of metabolism is not yet known clinically. A slightly decreased bile acid production, i.e., reduced cholesterol catabolism, as a primary phenomenon can lead to hypercholesterolemia without fat malabsorption, as has been suggested to be the case in familial hypercholesterolemia. A relative defect in bile salt production may lead to gallstone formation. A more severe defect in bile acid synthesis and biliary excretion found secondarily in liver disease causes fat malabsorption. This may be associated with hypercholesterolemia according to whether the bile salt deficiency is due to decreased function of parenchymal cells, as in liver cirrhosis, or whether the biliary excretory function is predominantly disturbed, as in biliary cirrhosis or extrahepatic biliary occlusion. Finally, an augmented cholesterol production in obesity is partially balanced by increased cholesterol catabolism via bile acids, while interruption of the enterohepatic circulation by ileal dysfunction or cholestyramine leads to intestinal bile salt deficiency despite an up to twentyfold increase in bile salt synthesis, to fat malabsorption, and to a fall in serum cholesterol. 

Bove KE (2000) Liver disease caused by disorders of bile acid synthesis. Clinics Liver Dis 4 831 848... 

More than 30 million people, infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), suffer from the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) 2 billion humans carry the hepatitis B vims (HBV) within themselves, and in more than 350 million cases the liver disease caused by the HBV is chronic and, therefore, currently incurable. These are only two examples of worldwide epidemics due to vims infections. Vimses typically consist of a compactly folded nucleic acid (single- or double-stranded RNA or DNA) encapsulated by a protein hull, Proteins in the hull are responsible for the fusion of the vims with a host cell. Vims replication, by DNA and RNA polymerase in the cell nucleus and protein synthesis in the ribosome, is only possible in a host cell. Since regular cell processes are disturbed by the vims infection, serious damages or even the destmction of the fine-tuned functional network within a biological organism can be the consequence. 

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