What complications are associated with liver failure? Liver failure can affect many of your body's organs. Acute liver failure can cause such complications as infection, electrolyte deficiencies and bleeding. Without treatment, both acute and chronic liver failure may eventually result in death.
Your liver can keep working even if part of it is damaged or removed. But if it starts to shut down completely—a condition known as liver failure—you can survive for only a day or 2 unless you get emergency treatment. Many things can affect liver function.
If you have acute liver failure, common complications include bacterial and fungal infection and low blood sugar. Swelling of the brain is another side effect of acute liver failure. It is also one of the most serious. Confusion, abdominal swelling, and abnormal bleeding are also common.
Studies have found that around 50% of liver disease patients with ascites die within two years.
Stage 1: Inflammation
In the early stages of liver disease, the liver will become swollen or inflamed as the body's natural response to injury. Liver inflammation, or hepatitis, can also occur when there are more toxins in the blood than the liver is able to manage. The earlier the diagnosis, the better.
People with acute liver failure are often treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in a facility that can perform a liver transplant, if necessary. Your provider may try to treat the liver damage itself, but in many cases, treatment involves controlling complications and giving your liver time to heal.
This is because toxins (such as ammonia) build up in the blood, causing confusion. The person may be unable to tell night from day. He or she may also display irritability and personality changes, or have memory problems. As brain function continues to decline, he or she will become sleepy and increasingly confused.
Liver failure occurs when your liver isn't working well enough to perform its functions (for example, manufacturing bile and ridding your body of harmful substances). Symptoms include nausea, loss of appetite, and blood in the stool. Treatments include avoiding alcohol and avoiding certain foods.
Is there a cure for cirrhosis of the liver? No, there is no cure for cirrhosis. The damage already done to your liver is permanent. However, depending on the underlying cause of your cirrhosis, there may be actions you can take to keep your cirrhosis from getting worse.
With respect to stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver life expectancy, roughly 43% of patients survive past 1 year.
Acute liver failure can develop quickly in an otherwise healthy person, and it is life-threatening. If you or someone you know suddenly develops a yellowing of the eyes or skin; tenderness in the upper abdomen; or any unusual changes in mental state, personality or behavior, seek medical attention right away.
Liver failure can potentially cause serious complications including excessive bleeding and increasing pressure in the brain. This is a medical emergency that requires immediate treatments. Depending on the cause of liver failure, it can sometimes be reversed with effective and timely treatment.
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 scary thing is that they're only in their 30s and 40s,” he says, noting that the chances of developing liver disease go up the longer a person has been drinking and is most common between the ages of 40 and 50. Other Yale Medicine doctors have diagnosed people with liver disease when they are still in their 20s.
Chronic liver failure is a slow decline in liver function that occurs alongside cirrhosis, or severe scarring of the liver. Cirrhosis may be caused by excess alcohol intake, hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, bile duct diseases and various hereditary conditions.
Over time, the progression of cirrhosis leads to chronic and often irreversible liver failure, which can be fatal. While liver failure often occurs slowly over time, several factors can also cause sudden liver failure and, without rapid medical intervention, potentially lead to death.
Pain is common in patients with liver disease and is difficult to manage. Pain has been found in up to 82% of patients with cirrhosis and is chronic in over half of patients [1•–3].
Generally, symptoms of alcoholic liver disease include abdominal pain and tenderness, dry mouth and increased thirst, fatigue, jaundice (which is yellowing of the skin), loss of appetite, and nausea. Your skin may look abnormally dark or light. Your feet or hands may look red.