Often, using alcohol, we justify ourselves by drinking sparingly and in small quantities. However, even 20 g of ethanol per day can cause alcoholic cirrhosis in women. This indicator - indicates the amount of alcohol drunk in a year, divided by the number of days. In other words, even friendly alcoholic gatherings with friends once a week can provoke a disease, consuming alcohol daily is not necessary.
The main signs of alcoholic liver cirrhosis
Alcohol cirrhosis is associated with prolonged use of alcohol, ethanol destroys liver cells, and they lose the ability to recover quickly. As a result, there is a proliferation of scar, fibrous tissue, which eventually replaces the healthy, smooth hepatic lobe. This process can be considered long - it takes from 5 to 15 years of alcohol use to start cirrhosis. Often in a pair with him is alcoholic hepatitis - inflammation in certain areas of the liver or the whole organ.
Symptoms are not immediately apparent. Before there are external signs of liver cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis and fibrous tissue growth will affect laboratory tests:
- a general blood test will reveal a decrease in erythrocytes and platelets, leukocytosis;
- increase of gamma globulins in the blood;
- the De Ritis coefficient is used - the ratio of aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase;
- systolic blood pressure decreases;
- enlarged spleen;
- develops ascites - fluid accumulates in the abdominal cavity;
- there is an expansion of the veins of the esophagus, intestinal and para-ulbicular veins.
External symptoms of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver differ little from the general signs of cirrhosis and hepatitis:
- yellowing sclera eyes, skin;
- the appearance of dilated capillaries in the region of the nose and eyelids;
- erythrem (redness) of the skin of the palms and feet, less often - of the face;
- hypertrophy of the salivary glands in the ear region;
- trembling and not bending the palms;
- syndrome of "watch glasses" and "drum sticks" of limbs;
- cachexia;
- asthenic syndrome.
Treatment of alcoholic liver cirrhosis, prognosis
With the diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, how much with it will live will depend solely on the possibility of refusing to drink alcohol and the general health of the patient. People from low social groups can count on 16-20 months, more wealthy citizens - for 20-60 months, provided that they stop using alcohol.
If the disease is diagnosed in the initial stage, you can achieve a long-term remission, completely stopping the process of cirrhosis. But this requires a lot of effort.
Treatment of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver provides for a complete refusal to drink alcohol. Without this, all subsequent therapeutic measures are meaningless. In the future, the first task will be to reduce bilirubin , because alcoholic cirrhosis directly depends on this indicator. The lower the level of bilirubin, the faster the liver is able to regenerate. For these purposes, a special diet is best suited, suggesting an increase in the amount of protein in the food. Also, you should abandon trans fats and fast food, switch to a healthy diet. In order to
Such categories of medicines are additionally appointed:
- preparations of adenomethionine;
- preparations ursodeoxycholic;
- multivitamin complexes;
- glucocorticoids;
- inhibitors of angiothersin-converting enzyme;
- inhibitors of tissue proteases.