Hepatocellular injury
What is meant by hepatocellular damage?
What do you know about hepatocellular damage?
What is the definition of hepatocellular injury?
If you have questions like the above, we recommend that you read on.
What you will read next:
Introduction
Many people refer to hepatocellular damage in articles with the term hepatocellular pattern or hepatocellular dysfunction.
We want to see what the pattern or characteristics of hepatocellular damage actually are and what their characteristics are.
What is the definition of hepatocellular damage?
Injuries and liver disorders can be divided into three main categories by physicians so that they can be well described:
- The first category is hepatocellular damages
- The second category of cholestatic pattern
- The third category is actually mixed cholestatic and hepatocellular liver disease
This article is about hepatocellular damage to the liver. This definition of injury will help us to better understand the following concepts in this article. Hepatocellular damage is said to be characterized by elevated serum levels of alanine aminotransferase or ALT and aspartate aminotransferase AST, hepatic aminotransferases.
That is, when there is a liver disorder and the doctor suspects a hepatocellular disorder in the liver (based on the evidence, symptoms, and clinical manifestations you have provided), he or she will ask you for an LFT liver function test, which includes a liver enzyme test. By looking at the results obtained in this test, the pattern of your liver damage is determined and if the liver aminotransferases are elevated, it is said that the liver damage has a hepatocellular pattern. If the alkaline phosphatase is elevated, it is said that the liver damage has a cholestatic pattern.
reasons
The most common cause of hepatocellular damage, which, as we have said, is associated with increased aminotransferases, is viral hepatitis, as well as Autoimmune hepatitis and ischemic hepatitis (caused by hypoperfusion).
How is hepatocellular damage classified?
Acute hepatocellular lesions are lesions that occur, for example, following viral hepatitis, ischemic hepatitis, or following hepatotoxicity of drugs and cause elevated serum levels of aminotransferases. We must say that lactate dehydrogenase usually has a noticeable increase in serum levels when there is ischemic hepatitis.
When the pattern of liver damage is hepatocellular, this damage is marked by an increase in the serum level of liver aminotransferases, namely alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. This pattern is called the pure pattern of hepatocellular damage, and if it is accompanied by an increase in serum alkaline phosphatase, it is said that it is mixed with the cholestatic pattern.
Is the damage and disorder reversible if the liver becomes hepatocellular damaged?
In answer to the above question, if the fibrosis tissue is formed in the liver, usually in the early stages when the process of cell damage begins, the liver can repair itself, when liver tissue is damaged by hepatocellular damage, fibrosis develops following this damage.
If medical attention and treatment measures are started in time, the liver tissue will be able to repair the damaged tissues.
What are the causes of hepatocellular damage?
The most common reasons for a slight increase in liver transaminases are alcohol use and primary alcoholic liver damage, after that acute or chronic viral hepatitis,
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver
- Cirrhosis
- Toxins
- Drugs as well as celiac disease are some of the common cases that can have a hepatocellular pattern.
Among the less common causes we should mention the following:
Hemochromatosis, autoimmune hepatitis, and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
The clinical manifestations and common signs that we will see in hepatocellular lesions are as follows:
- The first sign is jaundice, which is yellowing of the skin as well as sclera
- The second symptom is pain in the upper right part of the abdomen
- The third sign is ascites or swelling of the abdomen and dehydration
- The next symptom is nausea and vomiting.
- The next sign is generalized malaise
- Disorientation and confusion and drowsiness
Diagnosis
You see a doctor with one or more symptoms, and your doctor may suspect that you may have liver damage with a hepatocellular pattern.
the liver function test reports that what is the type of liver damage.
When the pattern of liver damage is hepatocellular, only hepatic aminotransferases increase. When the pattern is cholestatic, only alkaline phosphatase is increased. In most cases, there is usually a cholestatic mix with hepatocellular damage that causes elevated liver transaminases. Alkaline phosphatase will be predominantly elevated in the presence of cholestatic liver damage.
treatment
Depending on the cause of the liver damage, the treatment varies depending on the underlying cause of the enzymatic change in the individual.
How long do we need to recover from hepatocellular damage?
Hepatocellular damage may become acute and become chronic. Depending on the general condition, recovery usually begins within one or two weeks of the end of treatment, and the lesions usually resolve completely within two to three weeks. Also, injuries usually heal completely within two to three months after complete treatment.