Cirrhotic disease can develop as a result of a genetic predisposition, as well as due to an improper lifestyle. A large proportion (about 55% of all cases) among the causes of the development of cirrhosis is taken by the abuse of alcoholic beverages, drugs and drugs. Cirrhotic disease develops over many years and has several stages. Is it possible to die from cirrhosis of the liver and at what stage of the disease is a lethal outcome possible ? Yes, a cirrhotic state does in most cases lead to death. The exception is those patients who radically change their lifestyle and use modern pharmacological preparations.
Cirrhosis mortality statistics
Oddly enough, the largest percentage of the incidence of cirrhosis is in economically developed countries. Statistics say about 15-30 cases per hundred thousand adults . In the last decade, the incidence of cirrhosis has a tendency to increase and is about 12 %.
Cirrhosis of the liver is one of the seven diseases from which people of adulthood die most often. The average age of patients with hepatologists is from thirty to sixty years. Most of them are men, as they often suffer from chronic alcoholism, which is the cause of cirrhotic disease in most cases.
How do they die from cirrhosis of the liver? This is a heavy death: the patient experiences pain, ascites begins in him, all organs fail.
What causes cirrhosis?
Here are the most common causes of cirrhotic disease in decreasing order:
- Chronic alcoholism can lead to cirrhosis in a few years. The rate of development of the disease in people who drink directly depends on the general state of health and the liver: some men can drink alcohol-containing drinks drunkenly for decades and not get sick with cirrhosis. And for some, two or three years is enough.
- Chronic inflammation of the liver (hepatitis), if left untreated, will inevitably lead to cirrhosis over time.
- Toxic inflammation of the liver without timely treatment leads to cirrhosis.
- Heart failure and diabetes eventually lead to cirrhotic changes in the liver.
- Cryptogenic cirrhosis occurs for no apparent reason and accounts for only about 2-3% of the total number of patients.
How not to miss the initial stage of the disease
In people who monitor their health and regularly undergo medical examination, such questions do not arise. Even the very first changes in the state of the liver are visible upon receipt of the result of a biochemical blood test. Any therapist, seeing an increase in total bilirubin, ALT and AST, will send the patient for further examination.
Many patients with impaired liver function are concerned about the question: how does a person die with cirrhosis of the liver? This process is painful and painful. To prevent it, you should take a biochemical blood test at least once a year and undergo an ultrasound of the abdominal organs.
Stages of cirrhotic disease
Why die of cirrhosis of the liver? Because they let the disease drift and do not change the way of life. If you start treatment at the first stage, you can achieve long-term remission, and in some cases, complete restoration of liver function.
Here are the main stages of cirrhosis:
- At the initial stage, the patient does not experience problems with well-being and digestion. It can be determined only by laboratory tests and by ultrasound of the liver. But it is at this stage that the treatment is most effective.
- Within a few months, the disease takes on a subcompensated form - digestive problems begin, yellowness of the skin and sclera may appear.
- At the third stage, it is already impossible not to notice the manifestations of the disease - the patient is forced to seek medical help, and only then he has a question about whether they die from cirrhosis, and if so, how soon.
Causes of death from cirrhosis
The main reason is the development of complications. How do they die from cirrhosis of the liver? The following conditions develop:
- acute liver failure;
- ascites - an increase in the abdominal cavity to a gigantic size (sometimes over 150 cm in volume) due to the accumulation of fluid in the tissues;
- portal hypertension;
- damage to the kidneys and bladder against the background of portal hypertension;
- bacterial peritonitis;
- liver cancer (its symptoms are similar to those of cirrhosis).
When is everything not lost?
Is it possible to die from cirrhosis of the liver? It depends on the patient. People who monitor their health and adhere to proper nutrition are much less likely to get sick, but they are also at risk. For example, cirrhosis often develops after hepatitis C, which even staunch fans of a healthy lifestyle can catch.
You can die of cirrhosis in the stage of decompensation, when irreversible changes in all body systems have already begun. But if you start treatment at the first stage, you can live a long, eventful and happy life.
Chronic alcoholism and cirrhosis
Any narcologist with closed eyes will say that the alcoholic in the second stage has chronic pancreatitis, toxic hepatitis and problems with the functioning of the nervous system. Rare lucky people who like to regularly abuse alcohol pass these diseases. According to popular wisdom, "before cirrhosis, one must still drink." But if you do not give up this bad habit, cirrhosis will develop in 100% of cases.
In the modern world, alcoholism is still a common disease. In 75% of cases, it is he who causes the development of toxic hepatitis.
Signs of impending death in liver pathologies
When patients first hear their diagnosis, the first question that comes to their mind is: do they die from cirrhosis of the liver? Alas, the answer to this question is positive.
Here are the main signs that indicate that the death is close:
- persistent yellowness of the skin and sclera, which does not go away even after taking shock doses of hepatoprotectors;
- severe swelling of the abdomen - the development of ascites;
- loss of consciousness, fainting;
- almost complete stoppage of the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
How does a patient with cirrhosis die? He experiences pain in the epigastric region. That comes to consciousness, then loses it again. An ambulance takes him to a hospital and takes all measures to save, but in the stage of decompensation, as a rule, all efforts are in vain.
Drug therapy for cirrhosis
The main treatment for cirrhosis is a complete review of your diet and giving up bad habits. If the patient drinks even a small amount of alcoholic beverages, the disease will progress. A complete and irrevocable rejection of ethanol for life is necessary. If there is doubt in your decision and wants to drink again, it is worth remembering how they die from cirrhosis of the liver, and the desire will pass.
Nutrition is also worth reviewing: fatty and high-calorie foods make the liver and pancreas literally wear out. Naturally, with cirrhosis this is extremely undesirable. Therefore, it is worth giving preference to fresh and boiled vegetables, fruits. Bread and flour products are also prohibited: only dried bread or whole wheat crackers are allowed. Also, without limitation, you can eat porridge from buckwheat, rice.
The drugs for the treatment of cirrhosis use the following:
- sebivophenylated interferon ("PegIntron");
- antiviral agents (Tenofovir, Entecavir).
Will alternative treatments help in the fight against cirrhosis?
Among the elderly, there are many who are suspicious of modern medicine. Such an approach to treatment sometimes costs a person life: instead of going to a hepatologist and undergoing examination, they self-medicate and stay at home until the third stage of cirrhosis. If such patients were aware of how they die from cirrhosis, they would not be self-medicating.
Followers of traditional methods of treatment are forced to seek medical help when fainting, loss of consciousness, ascites, heart failure develop. In the third stage of liver cirrhosis, there is practically nothing to help the patient - only to relieve pain.
Modern medicine strongly discourages trying to be treated with herbal infusions and baths for serious ailments. Relatives of elderly patients are offered to make every effort to convince their grandparents to undergo treatment in a hospital with suspected cirrhosis. This is a very dangerous disease, and you can’t joke with it.