![]() As a result, the liver cannot perform its normal functions, such as rid the body of toxic substances.įibrosis in a diseased liver can be hard to detect because it frequently does not cause any symptoms. The scars replace healthy tissue in the liver. Scarred tissue forms after repetitive or long-lasting inflammation. This is a stage of liver disease in which scar tissue begins forming in an inflamed liver. If a doctor finds raised AST or ALT levels, they will likely order further testing to determine the cause, such as imaging studies or liver biopsy. In other words, if blood tests show elevated AST and ALT liver enzymes, it indicates inflammation and liver damage. The levels of these enzymes can be elevated in people with damaged liver cells. Liver function tests are blood tests that check the levels of liver enzymes called AST and ALT. However, if the inflammation continues, it can lead to permanent liver damage. Many people with inflammation of the liver are unaware they have a problem because they don’t have any symptoms. A number of diseases can lead to liver inflammation, such as chronic hepatitis or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This is the early stage of liver disease in which the liver becomes inflamed or enlarged. The main stages of chronic liver disease are described below. It progressively affects healthy liver cells, leading to a decline in liver functioning over time. What are the different stages of liver disease?Īs mentioned above, chronic liver failure occurs in several stages. ![]() ![]() Other symptoms of liver cancer can include feeling full after small meals and unexplained weight loss. Many of the symptoms of liver cancer are similar to the symptoms of liver disease mentioned above. When present, early symptoms and signs of liver disease include: Liver disease does not always cause symptoms. Please continue reading to learn more about the different stages of liver disease. However, early diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases can allow affected people to live normal lives. The scar tissue blocks normal function, which can ultimately progress to liver failure, a potentially life-threatening condition. Over time, the damage can lead to liver cirrhosis (scarring). Each stage of liver disease has an increasing effect on the liver’s ability to function properly. On the other hand, chronic liver failure occurs gradually over time, during which healthy liver tissue goes through several stages of damage. More than a hundred different liver diseases have been identified, including alcohol-related liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, glycogen storage diseases, portal hypertension, chronic hepatitis B, and dozens of others.ĭamage to the liver can happen quickly - this is called acute liver failure. They can also be caused by factors such as obesity, alcohol use, and viral infections. Liver problems can be genetic (inherited). Millions of Americans are affected by liver disease. The liver plays a critical role in digesting food, storing energy, and ridding the body of toxic chemicals. It is about the size of a football and sits in the upper right abdomen, just under the rib cage. Published by BMJ.The liver is the largest organ in the human body. One cannot escape the thought that the mathematical elegance of LE has contributed to its popularity.Įpidemiology public health statistics & research methods. We conclude that LE is not the measure of choice in aetiological research or in research with the aim to identify risk factors of death, but that LE may be a compelling choice in public health contexts. We argue that the age standardisation in estimations of LE is not straightforward since it is standardised against different age distributions and that the translation of changes in age specific mortality into change in remaining LE will depend on the level and the distribution of mortality in the population. In this paper, we examine LE from the point of view of its applicability to epidemiological and public health research and provide examples on the relation between an LE difference and a relative risk. Also, the implicit age standardisation is construed in such a way that it can be questioned whether it standardises age at all. LE is based on a synthetic cohort and is therefore not the true LE of anyone. However, most of the time LE does not quite provide what the term promises. Thus, it has become common to present differences in mortality across populations as differences in LE, instead of, say, relative risks. Life expectancy (LE) is considered a straightforward summary measure of mortality that comes with an implicit age standardisation.
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