Autoimmune Hepatitis
Viral hepatitis, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, are distinct diseases that affect the liver and have different hepatitis symptoms and treatments. Other causes of hepatitis include recreational drugs and prescription medications. Hepatitis type is determined by laboratory tests.
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Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis develops when scar tissue replaces normal, healthy tissue in your liver. It happens after the healthy cells are damaged over a long period of time, usually many years.
The scar tissue makes the liver lumpy and hard, and after a while, the organ will start to fail. The scar tissue makes it tough for blood to get through a large vein (the portal vein) that goes into the liver.
When blood backs up into the portal vein, it can get into your spleen and cause trouble in that organ, too.
There’s no cure for cirrhosis except a liver transplant, but you and your doctor can slow cirrhosis down by treating whatever is causing it.
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Fatty Liver Disease
Some fat in your liver is normal. But if it makes up more than 5%-10% of the organ’s weight, you may have fatty liver disease. If you’re a drinker, stop. That’s one of the key causes of the condition.
There are two main types of fatty liver disease:
- Alcoholic liver disease (ALD)
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
You can also get fatty liver disease during pregnancy.
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Hemochromatosis
Hemochromatosis happens when too much iron builds up in the body, leading to damage of the liver and heart. The condition tends to run in families, but people sometimes get it from having a lot of blood transfusions, liver disease, or alcoholism, or from taking too many iron pills. Early symptoms include weakness, joint pain, belly pain, and a darkening of the skin. Blood tests will confirm a diagnosis. Treatments include having blood taken out of the body on a regular schedule and taking medicines called chelating agents. Follow the links below to find WebMD’s comprehensive coverage about what causes hemochromatosis, its symptoms, how to treat it, and much more.
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Hepatitis A
If you have this infection, you have inflammation in your liver that’s caused by a virus. You don’t always get symptoms, but when you do, you might have:
- Jaundice (yellow eyes and skin, dark urine)
- Pain in your belly
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Fever
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Children often have the disease with few symptoms.
You can spread the hepatitis A virus about 2 weeks before your symptoms appear and during the first week they show up, or even if you don’t have any.
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Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. Most adults who get it have it for a short time and then get better. This is called acute hepatitis B.
Sometimes the virus causes a long-term infection, called chronic hepatitis B. Over time, it can damage your liver. Babies and young children infected with the virus are more likely to get chronic hepatitis B.
You can have hepatitis B and not know it. You may not have symptoms. If you do, they can make you feel like you have the flu. But as long as you have the virus, you can spread it to others.
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Hepatitis C
This infection of the liver is caused by the hepatitis C virus. About 3.5 million people in the U.S. have the disease. But it causes few symptoms, so most of them don’t know.
There are many forms of the hepatitis C virus. The most common in the U.S. is type 1. None is more serious than any other, but they respond differently to treatment.
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Pancreatic Disease
There are a variety of disorders of the pancreas including acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, hereditary pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer.
The evaluation of pancreatic diseases can be difficult due to the inaccessibility of the pancreas. There are multiple methods to evaluate the pancreas. Initial tests of the pancreas include a physical examination, which is difficult since the pancreas is deep in the abdomen near the spine. Blood tests are often helpful in determining whether the pancreas is involved in a specific symptom but may be misleading. The best radiographic tests to evaluate the structure of the pancreas include CAT (computed tomography) scan, endoscopic ultrasound, and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Tests to evaluate the pancreatic ducts include ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) and MRCP(magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography). There are also instances in which surgical exploration is the only way to confirm the diagnosis of pancreatic disease.
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