Liver disease can impair your liver’s vital functions — like helping your body digest food, store energy, and remove toxins — all of which are essential to your overall health. Liver disease can be inherited or induced by risky lifestyle choices. If left untreated, liver disease can lead to liver failure, a life-threatening condition.

There are many kinds of liver diseases, including:

• Alcoholic liver disease
• Fatty liver disease
• Hemochromatosis (your body absorbs too much iron from food)
• Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer)
• Liver transplant workup
• Portal hypertension
• Viral hepatitis: A, B, C, and E
• Cirrhosis
• Cholestasis

Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin or eyes, is a common sign of liver disease. Other signs and symptoms include:

• Abdominal pain and swelling
• Chills
• Chronic fatigue
• Dark urine color
• Itchy skin
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea or vomiting
• Pale stool color, or bloody or tar-colored stool
• Small, spider-like blood vessels visible in the skin
• Swelling in the legs and ankles
• Tendency to bruise or bleed easily

Tests

Blood Test
A blood test can check for specific liver problems or genetic conditions.

Imaging Test
Imaging tests such as computerized tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ultrasound can show liver damage.

Biopsy
Your GI doctor removes a small tissue sample (biopsy) for further analysis in the laboratory to aid in diagnosis.

Treatments

Oral Medications
Your GI doctor may prescribe an oral (by mouth) medicine that you take to manage the symptoms of your liver disease.

Lifestyle Modifications
Limit alcohol consumption. Get vaccinated for hepatitis A and B. Maintain a healthy weight, as obesity can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Avoid Risky Behavior
Avoid practices that put you in contact with other people’s blood and bodily fluids. For example, if you do drugs don’t share needles, use a condom during sex, and be sure needles used for piercings or tattoos are clean.

Why Choose UHealth?

A motility lab for accurate diagnosis of GI conditions. The only facility of its kind in South Florida, our motility lab enables our GI specialists to provide accurate diagnoses of GI conditions more quickly and efficiently. We offer a variety of leading-edge services, such as hydrogen breath testing, anal-rectal manometry, and bio-feedback.

A broad array of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Regardless of your age, condition, or whether you need long- or short-term digestive treatments, you will receive the most accurate diagnosis and most effective treatment to keep your stomach, digestive system, and organs healthy.