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.
Life expectancy by stage
Compensated cirrhosis: People with compensated cirrhosis do not show symptoms, while life expectancy is around 9–12 years. A person can remain asymptomatic for years, although 5–7% of those with the condition will develop symptoms every year.
The main symptoms of cirrhosis include: tiredness and weakness. feeling sick (nausea) and loss of appetite resulting in weight loss. red patches on your palms and small, spider-like blood vessels on your skin (spider angiomas) above waist level.
Because the function of the liver only decreases gradually, liver cirrhosis often goes undetected and unnoticed. Because of this, it is important to have regular examinations.
Many people with cirrhosis can feel quite well and live for many years without needing a liver transplant. This is because the liver can function relatively well even when it is quite severely damaged. Cirrhosis is classified as compensated or decompensated.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 some cases, depending on the cause of liver disease, these symptoms may come on suddenly. 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.
Abnormal LFTs often, but not always, indicate that something is wrong with the liver, and they can provide clues to the nature of the problem. However, normal LFTs do not always mean that the liver is normal. Patients with cirrhosis and bleeding esophageal varices can have normal LFTs.
Patients with compensated cirrhosis have a median survival that may extend beyond 12 years. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis have a worse prognosis than do those with compensated cirrhosis; the average survival without transplantation is approximately two years [13,14].
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.
The liver can develop new cells, but prolonged alcohol misuse (drinking too much) over many years can reduce its ability to regenerate.
Heavy drinkers and alcoholics may progress from fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis to cirrhosis, and it is estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of alcoholics will develop cirrhosis.
According to some reports, cirrhosis does not develop below a lifetime alcohol consumption of 100 kg of undiluted alcohol[8]. This amount corresponds to an average daily intake of 30 grams of undiluted alcohol for 10 years.
Some alcoholics may suffer seriously from the many physical and psychological symptoms of alcoholism, but escape serious liver damage. Alcoholic cirrhosis is found among alcoholics about 10 to 25 percent of the time.
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.
Cirrhosis of the Liver: Life Expectancy at End Stages
The cirrhosis is still reversible during this stage, but not enough liver tissue has been damaged to produce obvious symptoms of disease. Patients with stage 1 cirrhosis have a 99% 1-year survival rate.
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.
Resembles alcoholic liver disease, but occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol. Build-up of extra fat in the liver causing inflammation and damage, leading to cirrhosis. Affects 2% to 5 % of Americans but becoming more common.
Cirrhosis can be diagnosed by radiology testing such as computed tomography (CT), ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or via a needle biopsy of the liver. A new imaging technique called elastography, which can be performed with ultrasound or MRI, can also diagnosis cirrhosis.