Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is a late-stage liver disease characterised by the replacement of healthy liver tissue with scar tissue (fibrosis), resulting in progressive loss of liver function. It develops over months to years as a consequence of chronic liver injury from various causes including viral hepatitis (B and C), chronic alcohol use, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD/NASH), autoimmune hepatitis, and cholestatic liver diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.

In the early (compensated) stage, cirrhosis may be asymptomatic and detected incidentally. As the disease progresses to decompensated cirrhosis, patients develop serious complications including ascites (fluid in the abdomen), variceal bleeding from dilated oesophageal or gastric veins, hepatic encephalopathy (confusion and cognitive impairment due to toxin accumulation), jaundice, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and hepatorenal syndrome. Liver cirrhosis is also the most common predisposing condition for hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).

Management of cirrhosis requires a multidisciplinary approach. In the early stages, addressing the underlying cause — antiviral therapy for hepatitis, alcohol cessation, weight loss for NAFLD — can arrest disease progression. Decompensated cirrhosis may be managed medically with diuretics, beta-blockers, lactulose, and nutritional support. When cirrhosis becomes end-stage and life-threatening, liver transplantation offers the only curative option, replacing the diseased liver with a healthy graft from either a living donor or a deceased donor. Our surgeons at Ahmedabad Liver Surgeons evaluate every cirrhotic patient for transplant candidacy and guide families through the entire journey.