Decompensated cirrhosis = advanced cirrhosis? How should it be treated? An article gives you the answer!

"Liver cirrhosis" must have been heard by many people in daily life. In a purely literal sense, it refers to the "hardening" of the originally soft liver.

　　But in fact, liver cirrhosis is far more complicated than everyone thinks. This is a chronic, progressive liver disease in which patients have one or more chronic liver diseases before they develop cirrhosis.

　　For example, after the occurrence of viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and severe fatty liver , the patient did not receive active treatment. In this case, the disease acts on liver cells repeatedly and for a long time, resulting in extensive liver cell necrosis, nodular regeneration of liver cells , and eventually diffuse liver damage. The liver gradually deforms and becomes hard. Pathological changes are called cirrhosis.

　　Usually, liver cirrhosis is divided into two stages, which are compensated and decompensated . The so-called compensatory period refers to the fact that the liver originally has a strong compensatory ability. Even if nearly 70% of healthy liver cells are damaged, it can still complete the most basic work. Therefore, at this stage, most patients have no obvious symptoms and can be effectively controlled after treatment.

　　If the patient does not find liver cirrhosis at this time, there is no scientific and effective treatment. Then liver cirrhosis will further develop and gradually enter the decompensation stage . At this time, the patient may have obvious liver function damage , and at the same time, it will be accompanied by multiple complications and multi-system involvement . From a clinical point of view, the decompensated stage of liver cirrhosis is equivalent to that the patient has entered the middle and late stage.

　　Many people's understanding of the middle and late stages is actually very one-sided, especially due to the influence of the concept of the middle and late stages of cancer. Everyone blindly believes that the middle and late stages are equal to terminal illness and death. However, for liver cirrhosis , even if it enters the decompensated stage, the patient may not necessarily die because of it, because it can also be treated and the development of the disease can be controlled.

　　So the question is, liver cirrhosis has developed to the decompensated stage, how to treat it?

　　The liver dysfunction caused by the disorder of the tissue structure in liver cirrhosis has so far been completely cured in the United States and Europe, which mainly lies in the early detection and prevention of the progression of the disease. Regarding the treatment of decompensated liver cirrhosis, it can be mainly divided into the following aspects:

1. Treatment of the cause

　　As mentioned above in general, cirrhosis develops on the basis of chronic liver disease. Therefore, after entering the cirrhosis stage, patients still need to be treated for the primary disease. For example, antiviral treatment of viral hepatitis is the key point . In addition, patients should also actively quit drinking, use scientific medication, and use liver-protecting drugs when necessary;

　　2. Treatment of complications

　　After entering the decompensated stage, patients often have various complications, including ascites, hypersplenism, portal hypertension, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy .

　　Once complications are found, targeted treatment should be carried out, especially to control the development of ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy ;

　　3. Liver transplantation

　　If the patient's medical treatment has no effect, cirrhosis has entered the end stage. For example, if there is irreversible ascites, portal hypertension or gastrointestinal bleeding, severe liver damage, hepatorenal syndrome , etc., or cancerous changes on the basis of liver cirrhosis , liver transplantation can be selected . .

　　Finally, I would like to remind everyone that the prognosis of liver cirrhosis is related to three aspects: the cause of the patient's own disease, the degree of liver function compensation and complications.

　　Generally, the more advanced liver cirrhosis progresses, the worse the prognosis of patients. Therefore, patients with chronic liver disease should be more vigilant about liver disease, actively cooperate with doctors for treatment, and regularly conduct relevant screening.