Physical findings include hepatomegaly, jaundice, ascites, spider angiomas, fever, and encephalopathy. You’re at risk of alcohol-related liver disease if you have more than 3 drinks a day for about 10 years. You’re at risk of cirrhosis if you have more than 6 drinks a day for about 10 years. Drinking history is an essential component, which includes the number of drinks per day and the duration of drinking. Given the lack of a unique diagnostic test, the exclusion of other causes of liver injury is mandatory.

Treating alcohol-related liver disease

Cirrhosis is a feature of chronic liver disease in which scar tissue builds up in your liver and impairs its function. Fibrosis is the buildup of scar tissue in your liver in response to chronic inflammation. Scar tissue is made up of strands of a protein called collagen. Anyone with liver disease can have a transplant assessment if they meet certain conditions. This will be carried out at a liver transplant unit, and the process usually takes about a week.

• This initially takes the form of increased fat in your liver, but over time it can lead to inflammation and the accumulation of scar tissue.
• This will be carried out at a liver transplant unit, and the process usually takes about a week.
• The outlook for people with ALD depends on the severity of liver damage, the presence of risk factors and complications, and their ability to permanently stop drinking.
• Reducing weight if you’re overweight, eating a healthy diet, and regular exercise can help someone with early ALD who has stopped drinking decrease their risk of advanced liver disease.
• Liver biopsy is sometimes done when the diagnosis is uncertain or when liver disease appears to have more than one cause.

What is unhealthy or heavy alcohol use?

There are 7 transplant units in the UK and they will tell you which one they usually refer to. Read or download more information about liver transplants here. It’s not only dependent or daily drinkers who develop liver disease. Heavy drinking even on a few days in the week can cause alcohol-related liver disease. It’s a lot easier to overdrink than many people realise, putting vast numbers of us in danger of alcohol-related illnesses.

Fatty change

• In some serious cases of malnutrition, you may need to be fed through a tube (enteral nutrition).
• Symptoms may also result from the complications of cirrhosis (see Introduction, above).
• You might not have symptoms at all early on, or you might only have vague symptoms that resemble many other conditions.
• Between 2012 and 2017, at least 12 people died from respiratory depression while taking gabapentinoids, the agency found.
• If you have a more serious form of alcohol-related liver disease, such as alcohol-related hepatitis or cirrhosis, your doctor will advise you to stop drinking completely (lifelong abstinence) to prevent further damage.
• This stage of alcohol-related liver disease is very serious, and about a third of heavy drinkers with alcohol-related fatty liver will start to develop it.

There is no definitive test for alcohol-related liver disease. But if doctors suspect the diagnosis, they do blood tests alcoholic liver disease to evaluate the liver (liver tests). A complete blood count to check for a low platelet count and anemia is also done.

Specific treatment

For example, stopping drinking once diagnosed with fatty liver disease may be able to reverse the condition within 2–6 weeks. These are all important components of reaching an accurate diagnosis. Other than liver transplantation, abstinence is the only treatment that can slow or reverse alcohol-related liver disease.

As the condition progresses and more healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue, the liver stops functioning properly. To be considered for a liver transplant, patients must remain abstinent from alcohol prior to transplantation surgery. The purpose of this is to ensure that patients are able to maintain abstinence and are likely to remain abstinent after the transplant surgery. People who have developed alcohol-related hepatitis and alcohol-related cirrhosis are often malnourished, which can lead to worse health outcomes. Therefore, it’s vital for those with any stage of ALD to maintain a healthy diet. People with signs of malnourishment may need to increase the number of calories and amount of protein they consume, as well as take nutrient or vitamin supplements.

• When alcohol damages the liver, the liver can continue to function for a while because the liver can sometimes recover from mild damage.
• Life with cirrhosis can be challenging, but with the right information, the right medical team and the right treatment, there’s reason to be encouraged.
• As alcohol-related liver disease progresses to alcoholic hepatitis, symptoms may range from mild to life-threatening.
• If a clinical trial is not available, a trial of glucocorticoid treatment is reasonable.
• If you have severe alcohol-related hepatitis, you may need to be treated in hospital.