The liver is the most hard-working organ of the human body, it shoulders the burden of human substance metabolism, protein synthesis, bile secretion and excretion, detoxification, etc., while the liver is also one of the most vulnerable organs, viral infection, drinking, high-fat diet, drugs will cause damage to the liver.
According to statistics, about one-fifth of the population on the mainland is plagued by a variety of liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, liver cancer and drug-induced liver injury. Liver protection drugs can protect the liver through different mechanisms, and are a class of drugs that can reduce the inflammatory damage of liver cells, promote liver cell repair and regeneration, and restore liver function to normal.
In real life, some people think that if the liver is not good, they must use liver protection drugs, and some people oppose this practice, under what circumstances do liver protection drugs need to be used? Let's see what the experts have to say.
Is liver function poor in liver disease?
Usually, people will hear that the liver is not good, which may refer to two situations, one is suffering from liver disease, such as viral hepatitis, cirrhosis or fatty liver, etc., and the other may refer to liver function damage, such as liver alanine transaminases (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) elevated, the liver's metabolic detoxification function is reduced.
Many people will think that liver function will be impaired after suffering from liver disease, but it is not necessarily true. In the early stage of many liver diseases, the number and activity of liver cells have not been seriously destroyed, so liver function is still normal at this time, and we also call this period "compensatory period", and as the disease progresses, liver cells gradually necrosis, then liver function will gradually decline.
In addition, some liver function damage is not necessarily caused by liver disease, such as excessive alcohol consumption, improper use of drugs, etc. can also cause liver function damage. Therefore, liver disease and liver function impairment cannot be directly equated.
When do I need liver care medication?
There are many types of liver protection drugs, there are anti-inflammatory liver protection drugs, representative drugs have glycyrrhizitic acid preparations, which are mainly to inhibit the inflammation of the damage to liver cells and protect the liver; there are also liver cell membrane repair protectors, representing the drug polylysoliphalylcholine, which can promote liver cell regeneration and inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis; and detoxification drugs, such as glutathione, thiopranine, can activate a variety of enzyme activities, promote sugar, fat and protein metabolism, reduce tissue damage; in addition, there are antioxidant drugs, such as silybin and dicyclosol, etc., Has an anti-inflammatory antioxidant effect, prevents liver fibrosis.
From the above situation, it is not difficult to understand that liver protection drugs can only come in handy when liver function is impaired or decreased. So how do you know about liver function impairment? It can be judged according to the level of ALT or AST, such as ALT or AST level exceeding 3 times the normal value, and it can be considered that liver function has been impaired.
However, we also need to pay attention to the fact that liver protection drugs are not as much as possible, only one or two different types of liver protection drugs can be selected when using, and too much use will increase the burden on the liver, which may further damage liver function. In addition, if the liver function is impaired by liver disease, it is also necessary to pay attention to the treatment of primary liver disease, such as viral hepatitis, which requires simultaneous antiviral therapy.
In short, there are many causes of liver cell damage, and the cause should be removed first in liver protection therapy, and then the treatment of liver protection drugs should be carried out. In the treatment of liver protection, it is also necessary to correctly judge the pharmacological effects and their respective characteristics of liver protection drugs, select drugs in a targeted manner, avoid repeated excessive medication, multi-drug combination, liver protection drugs also need liver metabolism, improper use will increase the liver burden.
bibliography:
[1] Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B (2019 Edition)
[2] Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (updated 2018)
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