Fatty hepatosis

2023 Author: Alfred Shackley | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:14

Dystrophic liver disease, during which normal liver tissue - hepacites - is replaced by adipose tissue, due to the accumulation of lipids inside healthy cells. The disease in medicine is called: fatty liver, steatosis or dystrophic liver disease, and ordinary people - fatty liver or fatty.

If treatment begins at the first signs of the disease, then dystrophic changes can be stopped.

The disease develops with chronic intoxication of the body, which appears not only due to the use of fatty foods and alcohol, but also the prolonged use of drugs. The function of the liver in the body is purification, it removes all toxins, restores normal metabolism. Fatty infiltration of the liver is reversible, the main thing is that the diagnosis is made on time and the correct treatment is prescribed.

Fatty liver symptoms

Features of all liver diseases - at the initial stage, they are asymptomatic. While 1/3 of hepacytes are working normally, clinical symptoms can only be detected during special examinations - with ultrasound, CT or MRI, with changes in biochemistry indicators - an increase in the level of alats and asats (enzymes) in the blood.

The patient begins to feel discomfort and soreness only at the 2nd stage of the disease.

Hepatosis of the liver is characterized by several stages:

• 1 degree - small drops of fat accumulate in individual hepacites, organic functions are not disturbed;
• 2 degree - large accumulations of fat, there are separate lesions;
• Grade 3 - a significant number of cells are affected;
• 4 degree - fat is deposited not only in the liver cells, but also in the intercellular space, fatty cysts are formed.

Symptoms of the disease - as already indicated - begin to be felt from stage 2.

The patient complains:

• for periodic nausea, which at first appears only after eating fatty foods or alcohol;
• on the bursting weight in the right hypochondrium.

In addition, patients themselves notice that they develop weakness, unexplained fatigue.

In the future, the pain becomes almost constant, there are significant manifestations of the deterioration of the condition:

• persistent nausea and constipation;
• increased flatulence;
• increased intra-abdominal pressure.

Symptoms increase, allergic manifestations occur, decreased visual acuity, food intolerance, frequent vomiting. Further, liver failure begins to develop, normal hepacites degenerate into atypical ones, cirrhosis appears. All signs of the disease resemble jaundice: general weakness, yellowing of the sclera and skin, loss of appetite, ascites, impaired coordination.

The characteristic symptoms of dystrophic obesity appear at stage 3 of the disease, when it is already becoming irreversible.

Causes of liver hepatosis

Before choosing a therapeutic regimen for treating a disease, it is necessary to establish the causes that caused steatosis.

These include:

• organic pathologies in which fatty - or, more correctly, lipid metabolism is disturbed: diabetes insulin-dependent or insulin-dependent diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia (increased lipid levels), morbid obesity caused by metabolic disorders;
• alcohol abuse - the systematic use of large doses of alcohol;
• radiation - including radiation exposure used to treat cancer;
• diseases of the digestive organs;
• dysfunction of the gallbladder;
• diseases of the endocrine system, in which the secretion of hormones secreted by the adrenal glands increases - corticosterone, cortisol, aldosterone;
• thyrotoxicosis - due to insufficient production of thyroxine, a hormone produced by the thyroid gland;
• malnutrition - the use of fatty foods, an irrational diet - first, patients adhere to a protein diet, and then "break down", start eating a lot, then refuse to eat again.

Also, fatty degeneration can develop with the use of certain drugs for a long time - antibiotics, corticosteroids, sulfonamides. That is why patients are always warned - self-medication is extremely dangerous, it can cause more serious consequences than the disease itself. If you endlessly increase the load on the liver, it can be overloaded, and then pathological changes will begin in it.

Fatty liver disease - treatment and diet

The diagnosis - fatty hepatosis - is made with the help of special diagnostic examinations: biochemical blood test, ultrasound examination, CT and MHT. An additional diagnostic procedure is a biopsy. The first symptom that should make the patient alert is an enlarged liver, which is detected during the ultrasound procedure.

The first therapeutic measure in treating steatosis is to switch to a special diet.

Nutrition correction is as follows:

• refuse to fry;
• adhere to the following cooking technologies: cooking, baking in foil, steaming;
• exclude from the diet: rich fatty broths, legumes, tomatoes, mushrooms, strong coffee, cocoa, dark chocolate, fresh garlic and onions, fatty dairy products - cottage cheese and sour cream, canned food and smoked meats, carbonated and cold drinks.

The diet should include: steamed or boiled vegetables, vegetarian soups, boiled eggs, cereals - rice, semolina, buckwheat; dairy products - low fat.

It is not recommended to use cottage cheese, yogurt or kefir with a fat content of 0%, in order to achieve such defatting, special substances are added to the products, which in themselves can have a negative effect on the liver.

In no case should you lose weight quickly, even with severe obesity. A rigid diet stimulates the degeneration of hepacites. It is considered safe to reduce body weight by 1-1.5 kg per month.

How to treat fatty liver hepatosis with medications?

The following pharmaceuticals may be prescribed:

• essential phospholipids - "Phosphogliv", "Essentiale", "Essliver";
• amino acids - "Hepa-Merz", "Glutargin";
• hepatoprotectors - the most often prescribed "Heptral" from medications; "Hofitol", "LIV-52", "Karsil" - based on plant components;
• to improve the composition of blood and reduce its viscosity use - "Curantil", "Pentoxifylline", "Trental"; or "Dialipon" and "Berlition";
• taurine and selenium preparations.

The therapeutic regimen may include - choleretic drugs (in the absence of stones in the biliary tract) - "Holosas", "Allochol", vitamins A and E, which have antioxidant properties; statins - for example.

Treatment can be adjusted directly during therapeutic measures based on the clinical picture.

Additional methods of treatment: physiotherapy, ultrasound and laser treatment, hirudotherapy.

Treatment of liver hepatosis at stage 3 only stops the degeneration of hepacites and supports the vital activity of the body, it is already impossible to restore liver function.

Prevention consists in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, in people taking long-term drug treatment - liver support with hepatoprotectors, diet and timely observation by specialists.