Liver disease, problems, symptoms and causes

Your liver is the largest organ inside your body. It is also one of the most important. The liver has many jobs, including changing food into energy and cleaning alcohol and poisons from the blood. Your liver also makes bile, a yellowish-green liquid that helps with digestion.

Definition
Liver problems include a wide range of diseases and conditions that can affect your liver. Your liver is an organ about the size of a football that sits just under your rib cage on the right side of your abdomen. Without your liver, you couldn't digest food and absorb nutrients, get rid of toxic substances from your body or stay alive.

Liver problems can be inherited, or liver problems can occur in response to viruses and chemicals. Some liver problems are temporary and go away on their own, while other liver problems can last for a long time and lead to serious complications.

Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of liver problems include:

•     Discolored skin and eyes that appear yellowish
•     Abdominal pain and swelling
•     Itchy skin that doesn't seem to go away
•     Dark urine color
•     Pale stool color
•     Bloody or tar-colored stool
•     Chronic fatigue
•     Nausea
•     Loss of appetite

Causes

Problems that can occur in the liver include:

•     Acute liver failure
•     Alcoholic hepatitis
•     Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency
•     Autoimmune hepatitis
•     Bile duct obstruction
•     Chronic liver failure
•     Cirrhosis
•     Enlarged liver
•     Gilbert's syndrome
•     Hemochromatosis
•     Hepatitis A
•     Hepatitis B
•     Hepatitis C
•     Hepatitis D
•     Hepatitis E
•     Liver adenoma
•     Liver cancer
•     Liver cyst
•     Liver hemangioma
•     Liver nodule (focal nodular hyperplasia)
•     Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
•     Parasitic infection
•     Portal vein thrombosis
•     Primary biliary cirrhosis
•     Toxic hepatitis
•     Wilson's disease