Patient's question:
I usually love fatty meat and don't exercise much, but recently I've been feeling dizzy, nauseous, and having a dull pain in my right abdomen. When I went to the hospital for a thorough check-up, they said I have fatty liver disease. They warned me that if I hadn't come in sooner, it could have progressed to liver cirrhosis. I was terrified.Doctor's answer:
Cirrhosis is a common chronic liver disease that can be caused by one or more different reasons leading to liver damage, with the liver presenting progressive, diffuse, and fibrotic lesions. It is characterized by diffuse degeneration and suppuration of hepatocytes, followed by fibrous tissue fibrosis and nodular regeneration of hepatocytes. These three changes intertwine repeatedly, gradually expanding the structure of liver lobules and blood circulation pathways, resulting in liver deformation and hardening, ultimately leading to cirrhosis. In the early stages of this disease, there may be no obvious symptoms, but in later stages, a series of varying degrees of portal hypertension and liver dysfunction may occur, along with severe abdominal pain or chronic diarrhea, and ascites may develop.