Sunday, February, 12, 2012

Cirrhosis - Risk Factors

Table of Contents

Symptoms


Cirrhosis is divided into two stages: Compensated and decompensated.

  • Compensated cirrhosis means that the body still functions fairly well despite scarring of the liver. Many people with compensated cirrhosis experience few or no symptoms.
  • Decompensated cirrhosis means that the severe scarring of the liver has damaged and disrupted essential body functions. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis develop many serious and life-threatening symptoms and complications.

Early symptoms of compensated cirrhosis may include:

  • Fatigue and loss of energy
  • Loss of appetite and weight loss
  • Nausea or abdominal pain
  • Spider angiomas may develop on the skin. These are pinhead-sized red spots from which tiny blood vessels radiate.

As cirrhosis progresses to a decompensated stage, patients may develop the following symptoms:

  • Fluid buildup in the legs and feet (edema) and in the abdomen (ascites). (Ascites is associated with portal hypertension, which is described in the Complications section of this report.)
  • Jaundice. This yellowish cast to the skin and eyes occurs because the liver cannot process bilirubin for elimination from the body.
Jaundice
Jaundice is a condition produced when excess amounts of bilirubin circulating in the bloodstream dissolve in the subcutaneous fat (the layer of fat just beneath the skin), causing a yellowish appearance of the skin and the whites of the eyes. With the exception of normal newborn jaundice in the first week of life, all other jaundice indicates overload of bilirubin, damage to the liver, or inability to move bilirubin from the liver through the biliary tract to the gut.
  • Itching. Itching (pruritus) develops from buildup of bile products.
  • The palms of the hands may be reddish and blotchy, a condition known as palmar erythema
  • In men, swelling of breasts or shrinkage of the testicles may occur.
  • Easy bruising and excessive bleeding may occur.

Review Date: 11/04/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)