【Medical Q&A】What does the “trilogy” of chronic liver disease mean?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Jin Bo, Chief Physician, Fifth Medical Center, PLA General Hospital

The “trilogy” of chronic liver disease is hepatitis – cirrhosis – liver cancer.

Viruses, alcohol, drugs, metabolic or autoimmune abnormalities can invade the liver, causing liver cell damage and liver function impairment. Acute hepatitis cases are not cured and turn into chronic hepatitis; chronic hepatitis continues to progress under the continuous action of pathogenic factors or the participation of the body's immune response, gradually forming liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and some cases even progress to liver cancer. This is what we often call the "trilogy" of liver disease: hepatitis-cirrhosis-liver cancer.

Hepatitis is a general term for liver inflammation caused by various reasons. It usually refers to the invasion of the liver by a variety of pathogenic factors (such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, drugs and poisons, alcohol) and autoimmune factors, which damage liver cells, impair liver function, and cause a series of physical discomfort symptoms and abnormal liver function indicators. Cirrhosis is a chronic progressive diffuse liver disease caused by different causes. The pathological characteristics are extensive hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis, regenerative nodule formation, fibrous tissue hyperplasia, destruction of normal liver lobule structure or formation of pseudolobules. The main clinical manifestations are liver function damage and portal hypertension, which may involve multiple systems. In the late stage, serious complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, infection, and hepatic encephalopathy often occur.