Liver disease

What does a healthy liver do?

The liver is the largest and one of the most complex organs in the body. It has many functions including:

• as a biochemical factory, it processes nutrients absorbed from the gut, and makes them available for use by other parts of the body
• bile production and excretion into the intestine, which is important for absorption of fats and certain vitamins
• production of blood factors including many of those necessary for blood clotting and for normal body fluid balance
• removal of toxins from the blood including those produced by bacteria in the gut and for the breakdown of alcohol and many drugs
• removal of germs in the blood absorbed from the gut
• processing of some hormones and vitamins

Liver disease

Liver disease is a general term for any condition affecting your liver. One of the major complications of liver disease is cirrhosis, a term used for liver scarring and poor liver function seen in the terminal stages of chronic liver disease.

Symptoms of liver disease can include:

• skin and eyes appear yellowish (jaundice)
• abdominal pain and swelling
• swelling in the legs and ankles
• itchy skin
• dark urine colour
• pale stool colour
• chronic fatigue
• nausea and vomiting

Preventing liver disease

Many of the complications of liver disease can be avoided if you:

• maintain good nutrition through a high protein-high energy diet
• take your medications as prescribed
• get imaging scans every six months to conduct regular surveillance for liver cancer
• undergo regular gastroscopy procedures to detect development of large veins (varices) in the oesophagus
• avoid the use of some types of medications. This includes acid-suppressing medications (PPIs or proton-pump inhibitors) and sedatives
• avoid alcohol consumption
• stop smoking