【National Liver Care Day】Stay away from liver problems

March 18, 2024 is the 24th "National Liver Care Day" with the theme of "Early Prevention and Early Screening, Stay Away from Cirrhosis" to popularize knowledge on the prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis, proactive screening, standardized treatment, and regular follow-up. We call on the whole society to take action to reduce the occurrence of cirrhosis and protect liver health.

The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body and plays an important role in digestion, detoxification, metabolism, and immune regulation.

Liver cirrhosis is a common chronic progressive liver disease in clinical practice. In the early stage, due to the strong compensatory function of the liver, cirrhosis has no obvious symptoms. In the later stage, liver function damage and portal hypertension are the main manifestations, and multiple systems are involved. In the late stage, complications such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, secondary infection, hypersplenism, ascites, and cancer often occur, which seriously threaten life and health.

Early prevention and screening are the key to staying away from cirrhosis.
Viral hepatitis Currently in China, viral hepatitis, especially chronic hepatitis B and C, is the main factor causing portal cirrhosis. Alcohol poisoning Drinking a lot of alcohol can cause alcohol poisoning of the liver, thus forming alcoholic liver. If you still don't pay attention to alcoholic liver and still drink as usual, it will induce cirrhosis. Drugs Certain hepatotoxic drugs, if taken for a long time, will also increase the incidence of cirrhosis, and will develop into macronodular or micronodular cirrhosis. Therefore, if necessary, you should consult a doctor in advance for long-term medication. Circulatory disorders Chronic congestive heart failure and chronic constrictive pericarditis can cause long-term congestion and hypoxia in the liver, causing liver cell necrosis and fibrosis, which is called congestive cirrhosis, also known as cardiogenic cirrhosis. Cholestasis When there is extrahepatic bile duct obstruction or intrahepatic cholestasis, high concentrations of bilirubin can damage liver cells, and cirrhosis may occur over time. The one caused by intrahepatic bile duct obstruction is called primary biliary cirrhosis, and the one caused by extrahepatic bile duct obstruction is called secondary biliary cirrhosis.

Ascites is mildly manifested as abdominal distension, and more serious symptoms include swelling of the body. The amount of urine will decrease or even be absent, and breathing difficulties and abnormal kidney function may also occur.

Gastrointestinal bleeding: Mild cases may present with black stools, while severe cases may present with massive vomiting of blood, bright red blood in the stool, and even hypotensive shock.

The patient will have a dark complexion, inflammation at the corners of the mouth, spider nevi and palmar erythema on the skin.

Develop good eating habits. Eat a light diet, eat less greasy, spicy, and over-fried food, and avoid processed food to reduce the digestive burden on the liver; eat more fruits and vegetables to ensure a balanced diet and adequate nutrition for the body. Especially in spring, eat more green vegetables such as spinach, shepherd's purse, and leeks.

Ensure adequate sleep. The normal sleep time for adults is 8 hours. Normally, they should go to bed around 10 p.m. and enter deep sleep between 1 and 3 a.m. This is the best time to nourish the liver and blood. Pay attention to food hygiene. Do not drink raw water or eat raw seafood, because clams, oysters and shellfish are susceptible to hepatitis A virus infection. Pay attention to food hygiene to reduce the probability of hepatitis virus infection. Quit smoking and limit alcohol . The alcohol people drink must be metabolized by the liver. When there is too much alcohol and the liver's metabolic function decreases, the main component of alcohol, ethanol, will be converted into acetaldehyde through the catalysis of alcohol dehydrogenase. Acetaldehyde has a huge effect on the human body. Eventually, the human liver forms alcoholic liver under the action of ethanol and acetaldehyde. Do not take medicine indiscriminately. All medicines taken must be detoxified by the liver. Medicines should be taken under the guidance of a doctor. Do not take medicine on your own. Taking multiple medicines is prone to drug interactions and affects the liver's ability to metabolize drugs. Stay away from all kinds of instruments that may be contaminated by blood. Avoid unnecessary blood transfusions, injections, ear piercing, tattoos, sharing toothbrushes and razors with others, and reduce contact with instruments that may be contaminated by blood. Because hepatitis B and hepatitis C are mainly transmitted through blood and body fluids, you will not be infected by eating at the same table with people with hepatitis B and hepatitis C.