When it comes to chronic liver disease, the first thing that comes to mind is high blood pressure and diabetes. As everyone knows, there is a class of chronic diseases that have entered a high incidence period in recent years, and there are many diseases related to this organ, the total number of diseases has reached about 400 million people in 2020, and this type of disease has also shown a trend of rejuvenation, it is: chronic liver disease!
There are many types of chronic liver disease, such as fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, etc., all of which are in the ranks of chronic liver disease, in addition to serious and fatal diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, which are also chronic liver diseases. Many people seem to have chronic liver disease, no matter which type, they need long-term, or even lifelong medication.
However, is this really the case? Not really! Let's analyze these chronic liver diseases one by one:
1. Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is the most high-prevalent liver disease in mainland China and the most common type of viral hepatitis, and its appearance is related to viral infection. The development of hepatitis B is divided into different stages, and the treatment is different at different stages. According to the current clinical data, the treatment of hepatitis B mainly relies on drugs, such as antiviral therapy, immunomodulators, liver protection drugs, etc.
Usually, hepatitis B medication is not lifelong, and antiviral drugs can be discontinued when the virus in the patient is effectively suppressed. However, the prognosis of chronic hepatitis B is relatively poor, and most patients will have repeated diseases;
2. Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is also one of the types of viral hepatitis, and its incidence is associated with hepatitis C virus infection. Although it is also viral hepatitis, the prognosis of hepatitis C is relatively better, such as acute hepatitis C patients can be treated with interferon antiviral therapy, and nearly 90% of patients can get a complete response and complete cure.
Even if it has developed to the stage of chronic hepatitis C, its prognosis is relatively good compared with hepatitis B. After the patient has undergone standard antiviral therapy, there is a chance to clear the virus and recover;
3. Alcoholic liver disease
Alcoholic liver disease does not specifically refer to a liver lesion, but includes a series of pathological changes in the liver caused by alcohol damage, including fatty liver, hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and carcinogenesis. The prognosis effect of alcoholic liver disease is mainly related to the development of the patient's condition.
In general, patients with fatty liver disease have the best prognosis, while patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis have the worst prognosis, and the survival rate of patients within 4-5 years is only about 30 to 50%. That is to say, the earlier alcoholic liver disease is detected, the more timely alcohol is stopped, and active treatment, the better the prognosis will be;
4. Fatty liver
The so-called fatty liver, in fact, refers to the accumulation of fat in liver cells caused by various factors, which is a more common liver pathological change.
In clinical view, if the patient has mild to moderate fatty liver, there is no need for medication treatment, as long as the cause is found, the diet structure is actively adjusted, the weight is controlled, and the amount of exercise is appropriately increased, the disease can be reversed. For severe fatty liver, there are also corresponding treatment measures, such as drugs that protect liver cells, lipid-lowering drugs, antioxidants and so on.
In a word: not all chronic liver diseases require lifelong treatment.
For patients who have developed chronic liver disease, if they do not want to let the disease develop to an irreparable degree, all we can do is to seek medical examination in time and actively cooperate with doctors for relevant treatment, only in this way, there is a possibility of getting rid of the entanglement of the disease as soon as possible.