Alcoholic hepatitis is an inflammatory process of hepatocytes - liver cells. It is caused by prolonged alcohol abuse. To denote this disease, other terms are used: alcoholic steatoneecrosis, toxic hepatitis, alcoholic, fatty liver dystrophy. The liver is able to neutralize alcohol in a dose of 50 - 100 ml.40% alcohol solution per day without visible pathology, but if a person consumes more than 100 ml for a long time.alcohol daily for 5 years, the risk of developing hepatitis increases.
But in addition to alcohol, the liver condition is affected by many more factors: drugs, hepatitis viruses such as "B" and "C", impaired metabolism, disorders of the endocrine system. And then there's the constant alcoholic attack. When forming the history of the disease try to take into account all the factors. In fact, alcoholic hepatitis can not show itself especially at first, and the main symptoms and signs may be similar to other diseases.
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Alcoholic hepatitis: symptoms
- A sharp loss of body weight. Asthenia, fatigue and weakness.
- General discomfort, tenderness and heaviness in the right hypochondrium.
- Nausea with vomiting.
- Bitter eructation.
- Diarrhea after eating fatty foods and alcoholic beverages.
- Dark color of urine.
- Colorless feces.
- Jaundice of the skin, mucous membrane of the mouth and eye sclera.
- Skin itching.
- The low-grade temperature is 37, 1 - 37.7.
The appearance of such symptoms is an occasion for immediate medical attention. Diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis is carried out by biochemical laboratory methods of blood analysis, which will show an increase in transaminases( liver enzymes) and protein bilirubin( pigment).Do also a liver biopsy.
The harmful effect of alcohol on the liver
In the large intestine, alcohol is absorbed into the blood that passes through the liver. The liver, as far as possible, detoxifies alcohol. The result is a product of the breakdown of alcohol - acetaldehyde, which is even more toxic to the body than alcohol itself. Then the blood is repeatedly cleansed by the liver, passing so several circles, and acetaldehyde is rendered harmless. The energy of the liver, at the same time, is depleted. Hepatic enzymes are produced worse. Constant drunkenness leads to the fact that the liver can not already process ethanol and acetaldehyde. Thus, alcoholic hepatitis is formed, a precursor of alcoholic liver cirrhosis( hepatocyte degeneration) and hepatic insufficiency.
Stages and forms of alcoholic hepatitis
Hepatitis is acute and chronic. As a rule, acute hepatitis, after treatment passes into a sluggish, i.e. chronic form. The forms and stages of the disease are affected by many factors: the state of health of internal organs, hereditary predisposition, the measure of alcohol abuse in the quantity and quality of the consumed alcohol product. After a binge, a person can clearly understand and feel that something is wrong with the liver. Often with a mixed abuse of wines and beer, the liver grows and protrudes from under the edge of the costal arch.
Acute form of hepatitis is characterized not only by inflammation of liver tissue, but also by foci of necrosis( death) of the central hepatic lobules. With poor diet and drinking, as well as the use of technical spirits, the person intensively grows thin, the sclera of the eyes turn yellow and all skin integuments, liver pain and general weakness appear. The body temperature also rises. The liver grows and bulges. The outflow of bile from the gallbladder is disturbed. There may be hepatic colic.
If you stop in time and choose a healthy lifestyle, then there is a hope for a full recovery with one of the most important conditions - to stop drinking completely. And also take care of your health, undermined by alcohol poison.
In those cases when a person does not make appropriate conclusions and continues to drink further, chronic alcoholic hepatitis develops. That's what he turns into cirrhosis of the liver.
The first( easy) stage of alcoholic hepatitis is a small and unstable enlargement of the liver, which, incidentally, can not be. The patient feels a slight malaise. Symptoms here are not diverse and meager.
In the of the middle stage of the hepatitis , episodic pain and heaviness in the right hypochondrium are felt. Enlarging the liver is persistent. The liver is painful on palpation( palpation).Jaundice of the skin and eye sclera present. The patient complains of loss of appetite, weakness, loss in weight. An abstinent alcohol syndrome here can lead to the appearance of symptoms of alcoholic delirium, or white fever. Biochemistry of the blood for liver tests indicates serious violations.
Alcoholic hepatitis in the severe course is a direct route to cirrhosis of the liver. Hepatic cells - hepatocytes - degenerate into adipose and connective tissue and cease to perform their detoxifying functions. The liver increases in size. These processes are irreversible and incurable. Equivalent to liver cancer. The patient is intensely losing weight, his stomach is enlarged due to the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity - these are the phenomena of ascites. After all, liver cells do not filter blood. The patient has only a few days to live.
Treatment of alcoholic hepatitis
With complete refusal of alcohol, it is possible to conduct a full-fledged treatment of alcoholic hepatitis. The patient is prescribed a strict diet, bed rest, detoxification therapy, antiviral and immunomodulating agents, special medicines to improve the liver. Vitaminotherapy, physiotherapy. Treatment is permanent and long-term. Outpatient, at discharge, the patient must always follow the doctor's recommendations.
Special remedies for hepatitis are hepatoprotectors, that is, restoring damaged liver cells. They include: "Karsil", "Heptor", "Essler forte", "Heptral" and some others.
The prognosis of recovery depends on the severity of alcoholic hepatitis, the behavior and serious attitude of the patient to himself. From the diet the patient should exclude alcohol, fatty and fried foods, as well as all spicy and salty. It's better not to eat better, but more often during the day.
Cirrhosis of the alcohol
According to various experts, cirrhosis on the basis of alcoholism develops in the range of 15 to 25% for chronic alcoholism. Approximate average experience of alcohol abuse is 15 years. The peculiarity of alcoholic cirrhosis is the development of fatty hepatosis and the presence of Mallory bodies - alcoholic hyaline. The correlation of exacerbations of the disease during the drinking period is proved.
Symptoms of alcoholic cirrhosis
- Loss of body weight, until complete exhaustion. Increased abdomen - ascites, enlargement of the liver.
- Hepatic dyspepsia - in the stool you can find undigested fatty foods. In the oral cavity, the patient feels the taste of bitterness.
- The skin turgor is reduced and there are swelling.
- The lack of vitamins. When the development of bile acids, the incoming vitamins can not be fully absorbed into the body from food. In patients, wounds heal badly, bone fragility and gingival hemorrhage are observed as in Zing. The vitamins of the groups are especially lacking: A, D, E, K, C.
External symptoms of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver are a large stomach, palmar hyperemia, vascular sprouts on the upper part of the trunk and hands.
Treatment of this disease is rather symptomatic. The prognosis is very low.
