alcoholic liver disease

Examples of alcoholic liver disease in the following topics:

• Absorption of Alcohol

  • Women, certain ethnicities and persons with liver disease may process alcohol more slowly.
  • Alcoholic liver disease is a major public health problem.
  • In cases of severe liver disease, the only treatment option may be a liver transplant in alcohol-abstinent patients.
  • Moderate alcohol consumption also increases the risk of liver disease.
  • Consumption of alcohol is unrelated to gallbladder disease.

• Hepatitis

  • Bacterial diseases can also cause liver inflammation, such as tuberculosis and tick-borne diseases.
  • Non-infectious causes of hepatitis include alcohol, autoimmune conditions, drugs, circulatory insufficiency, metabolic diseases, pregnancy, and toxins.
  • Alcoholic hepatitis can vary from mild with only liver test elevation to severe liver inflammation with development of jaundice and liver failure.
  • Alcoholic hepatitis can occur in patients with chronic alcoholic liver disease and alcoholic cirrhosis.
  • For those with alcohol-induced hepatitis, cessation of drinking is recommended, as alcoholic hepatitis is often the beginning of more serious drinking-related liver disorders.

• Jaundice

  • Jaundice is often seen in liver disease such as hepatitis or liver cancer.
  • Commonly, diseases of the kidney, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome, can also lead to coloration.
  • Hepatocellular (hepatic) jaundice can be caused by acute or chronic hepatitis, hepatotoxicity, cirrhosis, drug induced hepatitis, and alcoholic liver disease .
  • Also, a group of parasites known as "liver flukes" can live in the common bile duct, causing obstructive jaundice.
  • A combination of liver function tests is essential to arrive at a diagnosis.

• The Portacaval Shunt

  • A portacaval shunt is a treatment for high blood pressure in the liver.
  • A connection is made between the portal vein, which supplies 75% of the liver's blood, and the inferior vena cava, the vein that drains blood from the lower two-thirds of the body.
  • The most common causes of liver disease resulting in portal hypertension are cirrhosis , caused by alcohol abuse, and viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C).
  • Less common causes include diseases such as hemochromatosis, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and portal vein thrombosis.
  • This image is a trichrome stain showing cirrhosis of the liver.

• The Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness

  • Engel that states that interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors determine the cause, manifestation, and outcome of wellness and disease.
  • The greatest single risk factor for developing schizophrenia, for example is having a first-degree relative with the disease (risk is 6.5%); more than 40% of monozygotic twins of those with schizophrenia are also affected.
  • For example, depression on its own may not cause liver problems, but a person with depression may be more likely to abuse alcohol, and, therefore, develop liver damage.
  • Increased risk-taking leads to an increased likelihood of disease.
  • Culture can vary across a small geographic range, such as from lower-income to higher-income areas, and rates of disease and illness differ across these communities accordingly.

• Liver Function

  • The various functions of the liver are carried out by the liver cells or hepatocytes.
  • The liver breaks down or modifies toxic substances, such as alcohol and most medicinal products, in a process called drug metabolism.
  • A healthy liver can break down alcohol.
  • However, the overstressed liver of an alcoholic may become clogged with fats that adversely affect liver function.
  • This type of tissue is most common in alcoholic hepatitis (a prevalence of 65%) and alcoholic cirrhosis (a prevalence of 51%).

• Behavior and Environmental Influences on Health

  • In a 1992 JAMA article, the Joint Committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine published this definition for alcoholism: "Alcoholism is a primary chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations.
  • The disease is often progressive and fatal.
  • Recent polls show that 90% of Americans currently believe that alcoholism is, in fact, a disease.
  • There is wide consensus that over-drinking is harmful: alcohol damages human cells and organs such as the brain, liver and kidney.
  • Rimm et al. predict a 24.7% decrease in the risk of coronary heart disease based upon 30g alcohol/day.

• Peroxisomes

  • In this way, peroxisomes neutralize poisons, such as alcohol, that enter the body.
  • Free radicals are thought to play a role in many destructive processes in the body, from cancer to coronary artery disease.
  • The liver is the organ primarily responsible for detoxifying the blood before it travels throughout the body; liver cells contain an exceptionally high number of peroxisomes.

• Pancreatic Cancer

  • Diabetes mellitus is both a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, and as noted earlier, new onset diabetes can be an early sign of the disease.
  • It is controversial whether alcohol consumption is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer.
  • Although drinking alcohol excessively is a major cause of chronic pancreatitis, which in turn predisposes to pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis associated with alcohol consumption is less frequently a precursor for pancreatic cancer than other types of chronic pancreatitis.
  • Liver function blood tests can suggest the presence of pancreatic cancer through elevated liver enzyme levels.
  • Although only localized cancer is considered suitable for surgery with curative intent at present, only around 20 percent of cases present with localized disease at diagnosis.

• Regulation of Blood Cholesterol Levels

  • The ratio of HDL to LDL is a useful screening method to determine your possible risk for heart disease or stroke.
  • The cholesterol within all the various lipoproteins is identical, although some cholesterol is carried as the "free" alcohol and some is carried as fatty acyl esters referred to as cholesterol esters.
  • Cholesterol that is not used by muscles remains in more cholesterol-rich chylomicron remnants, which are taken up from here to the bloodstream by the liver.
  • VLDL molecules are produced by the liver and contain excess triacylglycerol and cholesterol that is not required by the liver for synthesis of bile acids.
  • In contrast, having small numbers of large HDL particles is independently associated with atheromatous disease progression within the arteries.