Stages of Alcoholic Liver Disease – Docindia.org

Alcoholic liver disease, or ALD, is a type of disease that is caused by high intake of alcohol or alcohol-containing beverages. When you have excessive amounts of alcohol each day, the healthy functioning of the liver gets affected, and it becomes prone to serious damage. The liver is one of the major organs of the body, which is responsible for controlling some of the major parts of the digestive system. But excess alcohol intake can disrupt these functions of your liver.

This article will help you to get a detailed guide of what alcoholic liver disease is all about, different stages of alcoholic liver disease, diagnosis and treatments, the risk factors, along with other related details.

What is alcoholic liver disease all about?

Alcoholic liver disease involves the acute damage to the liver, leading to disruptions in the functioning of the liver due to the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. If a person has a habit of having as many as five or more drinks in a day or if somebody has 15 or more drinks a week for men, and four or more drinks a day or eight or more drinks a week for women, then it can be said that the person is consuming high amounts of alcohol which is most likely to result into liver problems like alcoholic liver disease.

Apart from taking part in the digestive mechanism, the liver also helps in other procedures in the body, some of which include metabolizing or processing ethanol. Now, it is important to note that ethanol is one of the primary components of alcoholic beverages. So, gradually, when the liver keeps on metabolizing high amounts of ethanol after excessive consumption of alcohol, it gets damaged, and the person will develop alcoholic liver disease over time, if he or she does not stop drinking in such high amounts.

One may also note here that apart from alcoholic liver disease, high intake of alcohol is also responsible for leading to early damage in the liver, which can cause diseases like fatty liver disease, which occurs due to the gradual deposition of fat in the liver, leading to conditions like hepatic steatosis.

Excessive consumption of alcohol can also result in the occurrence of other types of liver conditions, which can further deteriorate alcoholic liver disease, if not treated in due time. Some such diseases include alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis or scarring of the liver.

What are the stages of alcoholic liver disease?

There are three primary stages of alcoholic liver disease, which can be listed here as follows:

1. The alcoholic fatty liver or steatotic liver stage:

This is the first stage of alcoholic fatty liver disease that involves the gradual buildup of fat in the liver due to the consumption of high levels of alcohol each day. In this first stage of alcoholic liver disease, you are most likely to have an increased amount of extreme fat deposition in the liver. Moreover, in this stage, the deposition of fat occurs in the form of tiny droplets within the cells of your liver, which accelerates the process of liver damage further.

Some of the major symptoms that a person may develop in this stage of alcoholic liver disease may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal tenderness, loss of appetite, low levels of fever, followed by feelings of extreme weakness and exhaustion.

When fat accumulates in the liver in this stage, there is are chance that it can cause conditions like hepatomegaly, that is, the expansion of the liver, which is often considered by experts as one of the earliest signs of alcoholic liver disease among patients. In this stage, the early signs of alcoholic liver disease are treatable if they are diagnosed in a proper time and if the patient stops excessive intake of alcohol. But otherwise, this can lead to a further condition of deterioration of liver functioning, which involves inflammation in the liver, thus resulting in alcoholic hepatitis.

2. Alcoholic-associated hepatic steatosis or alcoholic hepatitis:

This is the second stage of alcoholic liver disease, when the fat deposition in the liver becomes so extreme due to high intake of alcohol, that it results into inflammation in the liver, which can lead to severe liver damage, and in some cases, liver cirrhosis as well.

In this stage, the liver inflammation may lead to so much of liver damage that the healthy liver cells may start dying and the liver may start to degenerate. Alcoholic hepatitis is a major condition of alcoholic liver disease, which may need immediate medical attention to prevent the liver from undergoing further damage.

Some of the major signs that patients are known to experience in this second stage include unexplained loss of body weight, feeling sick and having almost no appetite, traces of blood in vomit, swellings in the ankles and stomach, signs of jaundice leading to yellowing of skin and eyes, confusion, drowsiness, and so on.

Alcoholic hepatitis is such a stage of alcoholic liver disease that if it is not treated in a proper time, then it can lead to further liver damage, which may result in fibrosis, which is a state of permanent liver damage.

3. Fibrosis:

This is the extreme stage of alcoholic liver disease, in which there is a build-up of extracellular protein in the liver. If the condition of fibrosis is ignored and not treated for a long time, it may lead to liver cirrhosis and scarring, which can lead to irreversible damage to the liver. The symptoms that people may experience due to fibrosis may include loss of appetite, jaundice symptoms, nausea, signs of weakness, unwanted loss of body weight, problems in thinking clearly, and the buildup of fluids in the legs or stomach.

4.Alcohol-associated cirrhosis:

This is the final stage of alcoholic liver disease, which results in scarring of the liver. Scarring in the liver occurs when there is complete liver damage, and the healthy cells of the liver turn to form scar cells. If treatment of a patient in this stage is delayed for a longer duration, then there are high chances that this stage would mature and lead to complete liver failure of the patient. This condition can no longer be treated by reducing or stopping the intake of alcoholic beverages but requires proper medical attention. In many cases, even treatment is not possible in this stage, particularly when the damage to your liver in this stage becomes irreversible. Some of the most common symptoms that one may develop due to liver cirrhosis include nausea, vomiting, weight loss, fatigue, easy bleeding and bruising, loss of appetite, oedema resulting in swellings in ankles and legs, itchiness of skin, yellowing of skin and eyes, and so on.

Diagnosis and treatment measures for alcoholic liver disease:

Doctors may recommend certain types of diagnostic procedures for curing alcoholic liver disease, some of which can be listed below:

 Blood tests, which will include a Liver Function Test for detecting the occurrence of liver disease in your body

 MRI

 CT scan

 Ultrasound

 Endoscopy

 Liver biopsy to check whether there is a growth of alcoholic liver disease.

Once your condition for alcoholic liver disease is diagnosed, the doctor will recommend certain treatment procedures to get rid of the disease, some of which are listed below:

1. Lifestyle changes:

Having a healthy and balanced diet, reducing or avoiding heavy intake of alcohol, exercising properly, and getting enough sleep each day. Doctors may also advise you to lower your salt intake and take vaccines for liver diseases.

2. Vaccines:

Get jabbed with Hepatitis A and hepatitis B, and pneumococcal pneumonia vaccines to reduce the risk of liver diseases.

3. Liver transplant:

Doctors may recommend that you undergo for liver transplant when your liver has undergone major damage due to alcoholic liver disease.

Conclusion:

Alcoholic liver disease is a major type of liver condition that can lead to severe liver damage if not treated promptly, or in its earlier stages. It is therefore very important to keep your alcohol intake in check to reduce the risks of developing these types of health conditions. Apart from this, one may also note the three different stages of alcoholic liver disease, which can help to get an idea about the stages of deterioration of liver functioning. The condition of cirrhosis occurs when the liver has undergone complete damage and is beyond repair.

So, it is advisable to be aware of the symptoms of alcoholic liver disease so the condition can be treated in due time without much chance of deterioration of the disease, and one must also be mindful of their daily alcohol intake to get rid of the occurrence of this disease.