| Cirrhosis and its ComplicationsDefinition
- Pathologically defined chronic liver disease
- Reflects irreversible chronic injury of the hepatic parenchyma and includes extensive fibrosis in association with the formation of regenerative nodules
- Clinical features derive from the morphologic alterations and often reflect the severity of hepatic damage rather than the etiology of the underlying liver disease.
- The pathologic process of cirrhosis should be viewed as a final common pathway of many types of chronic liver injury.
- Types of cirrhosis include:
- Alcoholic cirrhosis
- Also known as Laennec’s cirrhosis
- End-stage liver disease due to the excessive and chronic ingestion of alcohol
- Posthepatitic and cryptogenic cirrhosis
- Also known as coarsely nodular cirrhosis and multilobular cirrhosis
- Represents the final common pathway of many types of chronic liver disease
- Cryptogenic: reserved for cases in which the etiology of cirrhosis is unknown
- Biliary cirrhosis
- Results from injury to or prolonged obstruction of either the intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary system
- Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)
- Chronic inflammation and fibrotic obliteration of the intrahepatic bile ductules
- Secondary biliary cirrhosis
- Longstanding obstruction of the larger extrahepatic ducts
- Cardiac cirrhosis
- Prolonged, severe right-sided congestive heart failure that leads to chronic liver injury and cirrhosis
- Metabolic, hereditary, drug-related, and other types of cirrhosis
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