Liver disease

　　The main factors affecting liver disease are as follows.

　　One, poor living habits, excessive drinking. Now many people are busy with socializing, and there is a lot of drinking at the dinner table, which increases the workload of the liver to excrete toxins without realizing it, causing the liver to appear lesions, such as alcoholic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, and so on.

　　Two, poor eating habits. For example, eating unclean things or irregular eating habits, hungry for a meal and full for a meal, which will affect the Qi of the liver.

　　Three, overwork: This is the main cause of hepatitis B. Because of excessive labor, such as heavy physical and mental labor, the body is in a state of over负荷 for a long time, leading to a decrease in the body's resistance and the onset of the disease. Catching a cold: This cause of hepatitis B can slow down various chemical reactions in the body, reduce resistance, and give the hepatitis B virus an opportunity to reproduce. Malnutrition and fatigue, trauma, mental stimulation, and drug toxicity can also be causes of hepatitis B.

　　Four, long-term staying up late. The normal sleep time for adults should be 8 hours, and people should start sleeping around 11 o'clock at night, so that they can enter a deep sleep state between 1 and 3 o'clock in the morning. This is the best time to nourish the liver and blood. If one does not sleep during this time, it is impossible to nourish the liver and blood.

　　Five, drugs that damage the liver. Especially some traditional Chinese medicine, which is more likely to cause liver damage and is often unknown to the general public.

　　Six, other diseases. If there are other diseases such as diabetes at the same time, they may also cause liver damage.

　　Seven, radiation.

　　Eight, frequently exposed to toxic substances or chemicals such as spray cleaners, pesticides, and paints, or long-term exposure to smoking environments.

　　1. Liver damage caused by liver disease: Most patients with acute viral hepatitis recover within 6 months, especially those with hepatitis A and B. However, if it is acute severe hepatitis or fulminant hepatitis, the mortality rate is very high, reaching 60%-70%, and even if recovered, it often develops into liver cirrhosis. Hepatitis A evolves into chronic hepatitis, and very few people develop liver cirrhosis. But about 15% of acute hepatitis B evolves into chronic hepatitis. In China, a group of 1357 cases of acute hepatitis B were reported, and after 2-10 years of follow-up, it was found that 16% developed into chronic hepatitis and 2% into liver cirrhosis, and about 0.6% developed liver cancer. Hepatitis C evolves into chronic hepatitis at a higher rate, about 26%-55%, and it has now been confirmed that some liver cirrhosis and liver cancer are derived from hepatitis C. Therefore, hepatitis B and C are very harmful, and a considerable number of patients evolve from chronic hepatitis into liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

　　2. Liver disease's invasion of other organs: It has been confirmed that hepatitis viruses can invade other organs, such as the hepatitis B virus marker can also be found in the kidney, pancreas, bone marrow, and thyroid. Therefore, viral hepatitis also has a harmful effect, namely, extrahepatic organ complications, such as arthritis, glomerulonephritis, nodular polyarteritis, and less common diabetes, fatty liver, aplastic anemia, multiple neuritis, pleurisy, myocarditis, and pericarditis, etc. Hepatitis B is more common in extrahepatic complications.

　　3. Psychological harm of liver disease to patients: Liver disease not only causes harm to patients' bodies and even lives but also has a very heavy impact on patients' psychology. Whether it is hepatitis patients or viral carriers, they will be severely affected in aspects such as life, social activities, job hunting, and education, and their lives may be changed forever. Such examples are countless. Therefore, whether it is hepatitis patients or viral carriers, they should actively, proactively, and thoroughly treat the disease, and should not take hepatitis lightly, nor should they believe that hepatitis virus carriers will not develop into lesions due to lifelong carrying of the virus.

　　The main symptoms of liver disease include the following points.

　　1. Discomfort in the liver area: Among all symptoms of liver disease, discomfort and pain in the liver area are relatively specific. When such symptoms occur, the first suspicion is that they are caused by liver disease, and trauma factors should be ruled out. Occasionally, normal people may also experience transient pain and discomfort in the liver area, which is relatively rare. Discomfort and pain in the liver area are often related to liver enlargement compressing the liver capsule. With the progression of the disease, the nature and severity of liver pain also vary. Liver cancer is generally progressive and severe, mainly caused by the continuous growth of liver cancer tumors compressing the liver capsule.

　　2. Ascites: Ascites generally occurs in the late stage of liver disease or when the condition is extremely serious, such as the occurrence of ascites in liver cirrhosis indicating that it has entered the late stage of liver cirrhosis.

　　3. General systemic manifestations: Fatigue and easy tiredness are the most common systemic manifestations. Some liver disease patients may have varying degrees of jaundice, manifested as yellow urine, yellow eyes, and yellow skin, which is the most specific symptom of liver disease (except for physiological jaundice in children). High levels of jaundice can cause skin itching.

　　4. Liver spots and spider angiomas: Many chronic liver diseases present with liver spots, spider angiomas, and a liver face, especially in patients with liver cirrhosis. However, liver spots and spider angiomas are not specific, and they can also be seen in normal people, so having spider angiomas or liver spots does not necessarily mean it is a symptom of liver disease.

　　5. Gastrointestinal manifestations: This is the most common symptom of liver disease, appearing in most liver diseases, such as: nausea, aversion to greasy food, poor appetite, generalized fatigue, and may include vomiting, diarrhea, splenomegaly, and other symptoms. These symptoms may also be related to liver源性 ulcer disease caused by chronic liver disease, portal hypertension-related enteropathy, and other diseases.

　　6. Bleeding tendency: The liver disease bleeding phenomenon is reflected in the deterioration of liver function, leading to reduced synthesis of coagulation factors. It is easy to cause bleeding in the gums, hemorrhoids, gastrointestinal bleeding, etc., and it is difficult to stop bleeding.

　　7. Portal hypertension: Portal hypertension refers to increased pressure in the portal vein system. It often causes varicose veins in the esophagus and fundus of the stomach, which is the main cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. Once bleeding occurs, combined with the bleeding tendency of the disease, it is often dangerous, and is one of the main causes of death in liver disease (mainly referring to advanced liver cirrhosis and liver cancer).

　　8. Hepatic encephalopathy: This is a manifestation of liver disease at the end stage, with extremely dangerous symptoms, and is the main cause of death in liver disease patients.

　　The prevention of liver disease mainly starts with daily health care, maintaining a good lifestyle and dietary habits, and checking at appropriate times. Mainly, there are the following points.

　　1. Transmission routes of liver disease

　　To prevent liver disease, one should stay away from various items that may be contaminated with blood. Avoid unnecessary blood transfusions, injections, piercing, tattooing, and sharing toothbrushes, razors, etc., with others, as well as reducing contact with items that may be contaminated with blood.

　　2. Pay attention to dietary hygiene

　　Do not drink unboiled water, nor eat raw seafood, as clams, oysters, and shellfish are susceptible to infection by hepatitis A virus.

　　3. Maintain normal weight

　　As this question-posing netizen is concerned, overweight may increase the likelihood of liver disease. Excess weight makes the liver work harder and the risk of fatty liver disease increases. If the total body fat decreases, the fat in the liver will also decrease, even a significant drop in the liver function index elevated in liver disease patients.

　　4. Do not drink alcohol or smoke

　　Drinking alcohol increases the risk of fatty liver and alcoholic liver disease, so people with liver disease should completely abstain from alcohol. In addition, smoking is related to liver cancer, so it is advisable to smoke less and quit smoking.

　　5. Regulate diet to nourish the liver

　　A key principle of diet is 'balance'. In order to achieve rapid weight loss, some people only eat fruit for three meals a day without eating other foods, or follow a 'low-sugar diet' - a diet combination of high protein and low carbohydrates. Unbalanced diet increases the burden on the liver. The liver is responsible for converting the food eaten into the body's energy source.

　　6. Be cautious with medication and do not abuse drugs.

　　All the drugs taken must be detoxified by the liver. In addition to prescribed medications, avoid taking other drugs on your own, as taking multiple drugs can easily produce drug interactions, affecting the liver's ability to metabolize drugs.

　　7. Pay attention to sleep time

　　The normal sleep time for adults should be 8 hours. It is normal to go to bed around 11 pm, and enter deep sleep between 1 and 3 am. This time is the best time for nourishing the liver blood. Conversely, the blood will not be sufficiently nourished.

　　For liver disease, the following points should be noted in terms of laboratory tests.

　　1. Liver function test (GOT, GPT): When liver cells die, GOT and GPT are released into the blood after the liver cell membrane is damaged (normally, GOT and GPT are not only present in liver cells but also in cells of other parts of the body, such as muscle cells, brain cells, myocardial cells, etc., so an increase in GOT and GPT does not necessarily mean liver damage, but only that its content is highest in liver cells), so some people believe that it is more appropriate to call them 'hepatitis markers' than 'liver function markers'.

　　2. Hepatitis markers: When liver cells die, GOT and GPT are released into the blood, so some people believe that it is more appropriate to call them 'hepatitis markers' than 'liver function markers'. The levels of GOT and GPT are not necessarily related to the severity of liver disease or prognosis. Sometimes the immune system clears the virus by causing liver cell death, at which time the GOT and GPT levels will rise, so GOT and GPT cannot be used alone to judge whether the liver is damaged.

　　3. Abdominal ultrasound examination: While blood tests can reflect the patient's liver function, they cannot provide clear information for liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Especially for some patients with liver cirrhosis or liver cancer, their liver function test results may still be within the normal range, and they may have no symptoms. Therefore, it is necessary to combine blood tests with ultrasound examinations.

　　4. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP/fetal protein) test: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP/fetal protein) is an important indicator for the detection of liver cancer. Alpha-fetoprotein/AFP is a manifestation of active liver cell growth, so a small number of normal individuals and pregnant women may have higher levels than the average person. The liver cells of the fetus grow actively, and the secreted alpha-fetoprotein/AFP is significantly higher than that of the average person (hence, it is also called fetal protein). AFP can pass through the placental barrier, causing the mother's blood to have higher levels of AFP.

　　The following points should be paid attention to in the diet for liver disease.

　　0. Control calorie intake to oxidize and consume fat in liver cells. Obese individuals should gradually lose weight to reduce body weight to the standard weight range.

　　1. Limit the intake of fat and carbohydrates, and the intake of sugar should not be excessive.

　　2. High-protein diet, high protein can protect liver cells and promote the repair and regeneration of liver cells.

　　3. Ensure a supply of fresh vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, to meet the body's need for vitamins.

　　4. Limit salt intake, with 6 grams per day as appropriate.

　　5. Drink an appropriate amount of water to promote the metabolism and excretion of metabolic waste in the body.

　　6. Foods rich in methionine, such as millet, sesame, spinach, etc., can promote the synthesis of phospholipids in the body and assist in the transformation of fat in liver cells.

　　7. Avoid spicy and刺激性 food.

　　The general treatment method for liver disease is surgery, with the following points for attention.

　　(1) Early or middle-stage liver cancer with good liver function compensation can undergo exploratory surgery and radical or palliative resection according to the condition. If recurrence or metastasis occurs after radical resection of the tumor, reoperation can be performed.

　　(2) After palliative resection of the tumor, comprehensive treatment must be carried out. Comprehensive treatment refers to anti-cancer, immunotherapy, combined chemotherapy with traditional Chinese medicine, radiotherapy, catheter chemotherapy, immunotherapy, etc.

　　(3) Preoperative anti-cancer traditional Chinese medicine + chemotherapy, the purpose is to suppress or kill cancer cells in the blood of liver cancer patients and stimulate or compress the tumor by surgery, causing the cancer cells to migrate or implant, and to exert an inhibitory or killing effect. In addition, it can also exert an anti-cancer effect locally, to reduce tissue reactive edema and thus reduce the tumor size, reduce the adhesion between the tumor and the surrounding tissues, and facilitate the resection of the tumor. Preoperative administration can strengthen the aggregation force between cancer cells, cause the cancer cells to aggregate into a mass, prevent the loss of cancer cells after surgery, reduce the spread and implantation of cancer cells after surgery, and facilitate the complete resection and cleaning of the tumor.

　　(4) Postoperative anti-cancer, immunotherapy, and combined chemotherapy with traditional Chinese medicine to clear small lesions and metastatic cancer cells, control and reduce postoperative recurrence and spread, prevent tumor metastasis and recurrence.