You may not have any symptoms during the early stages of cirrhosis. As your liver becomes more damaged, you may: feel very tired and weak. feel sick (nausea)
Myth: I don't have any symptoms so there's no way I could have cirrhosis. Fact: It is possible to have cirrhosis of the liver and not know it. Many patients who have cirrhosis still have enough liver function to support their body's daily operations and have no symptoms.
You may have no signs or symptoms of cirrhosis until your liver is badly damaged.
It is also possible that about 50% of people with acute liver disease will have no symptoms. People living with chronic liver disease may not experience any symptoms until the disease has progressed for many years.
However, as your liver loses its ability to function properly, you're likely to experience a loss of appetite, nausea and itchy skin. In the later stages, symptoms can include jaundice, vomiting blood, dark, tarry-looking stools, and a build-up of fluid in the legs (oedema) and abdomen (ascites).
A person can remain asymptomatic for years, although 5–7% of those with the condition will develop symptoms every year. Decompensated cirrhosis: People with decompensated cirrhosis already experience symptoms and complications.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
The liver is known as a silent organ, as even when a liver failure occurs, the symptoms often go unnoticed. When symptoms such as jaundice become apparent, the disorder will have already reached an advanced stage. When liver function declines, your body will feel sluggish; you will feel tired and lose your appetite.
Nausea. Vomiting. A general sense of feeling unwell (malaise) Disorientation or confusion.
Tests to confirm a diagnosis of cirrhosis include a complete blood count (CBC), liver enzyme, liver function and electrolyte testing as well as screening for other health conditions such as hepatitis B and C viruses, liver cancer or gallstones. In most cases, a liver biopsy is used to confirm the diagnosis.
Pain has been found in up to 82% of patients with cirrhosis and is chronic in over half of patients [1•–3].
Often, cirrhosis is first found through a routine blood test or checkup. To help confirm a diagnosis, a combination of laboratory and imaging tests is usually done.
Cirrhosis cannot usually be cured, but there are ways to manage the symptoms and any complications, and stop the condition getting worse.
Although scarring from liver disease causes permanent damage, it's still possible to live a long life. Depending on the underlying cause, it's possible to slow or stop cirrhosis from worsening. Many of the causes and complications that lead to cirrhosis are treatable or manageable.
Many people are not aware that they have cirrhosis, since they may not have signs or symptoms until their liver is badly damaged. A healthy liver (left) and liver with cirrhosis (right).
Liver cirrhosis is the second leading disease causing premature death in working-age people (after heart disease). It develops silently and most patients will have no signs or symptoms until they experience a serious medical emergency and the first admission is fatal in one in three patients.
Patients with cirrhosis often have normal or only slightly elevated serum AST and ALT levels. Thus, AST and ALT lack some sensitivity in detecting chronic liver injury.
A liver blood test measures the levels of various things in your blood, like proteins, liver enzymes, and bilirubin. This can help check the health of your liver and for signs of inflammation or damage.
Depending on the cause, cirrhosis can develop over months or years. There is no cure.
People with cirrhosis of the liver have a life expectancy of between two and 12 years. If you have early-stage cirrhosis, treatment and lifestyle changes can help you live longer. People with advanced cirrhosis of the liver have a much shorter life expectancy.
Treating cirrhosis
There's no cure for cirrhosis at the moment. However, there are ways to manage the symptoms and any complications and slow its progression. Treating the problem that led to cirrhosis (for example, using anti-viral medicines to treat hepatitis C) can stop cirrhosis getting worse.
People with cirrhosis in Class A have the best prognosis, with a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years. People with cirrhosis in Class B are still healthy, with a life expectancy of 6 to 10 years. As a result, these people have plenty of time to seek sophisticated therapy alternatives such as a liver transplant.
In the past, liver cirrhosis was considered an irreversible phenomenon. However, many experimental data have provided evidence of the reversibility of liver fibrosis. Moreover, multiple clinical studies have also shown regression of fibrosis and reversal of cirrhosis on repeated biopsy samples.
Stage 1 cirrhosis involves some scarring of the liver, but few symptoms. This stage is considered compensated cirrhosis, where there are no complications. Stage 2 cirrhosis includes worsening portal hypertension and the development of varices.