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Liver Cirrhosis

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Liver Cirrhosis
Your Name
HCS 245
April 16, 2014
University of Phoenix
Dr. Tobey Tam

Liver Cirrhosis
As the Directors at the Sharp Rees Medical Facility, we will be talking about the liver. The liver is a very important organ in the human body as it does not just perform one function but is involved in multiple tasks. Some interesting facts about the liver; it weighs under five pounds, it has a shape like a half football and everyone is born with one. Just like most other disease or disorder, if the liver has not been taken care of properly there are many negative outcomes that can affect and destroy the liver. There are many complications when the liver is abused or damage for example cancer, hemochromatosis, gallbladder or even liver cirrhosis (Lee, 2014). We will be focusing more about liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis has been the 12th leading cause of death in the United States in 2010 (Murphy, Xu, & Kochenek, 2013). We will primarily focus on liver cirrhosis also known as Hepatitis C, provide you with general information as well as the possible solutions, data regarding the infected population and giving some resources/awareness about this disease.
To start is to give information about liver cirrhosis. This disease causes the liver to be scarred and damaged. The liver is damaged with scar tissue in and around the liver as new cells are trying to restructure but instead they turn into regenerated nodules (Lee, 2014). The redeveloped nodules are what give the physical features of the liver cirrhosis. A small brief history on this disease. Liver cirrhosis has been around for many years, but how it got the name was in 1819, by French psychiatrist, Rene Laennec (Roguin, 2006). During that year, Rene was actually studying and listening to sounds around the heart and came across liver cirrhosis (Roguin, 2006). The origination of the name is Greek with kirrhosis, kirrhos meaning the yellowish color of the liver and osis meaning the increase (Roguin, 2006). Since liver cirrhosis has been around for a very long time, there are many possible ways to getting the disease. Liver cirrhosis does not happen overnight, it does take time to accumulate. Common causes would include excessive alcohol drinking, persistent infections of Hepatitis B and C, as well genetic disorders such as Wilson’s disease or hemochromatosis (Lee, 2014). Some symptoms of this disease will include jaundice (yellow in the skin color and eyes), fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite and easily bruised (Lee, 2014). Once diagnosed, there is no cure for liver cirrhosis, but there are things that an individual can do to help slow down growth of this disease. One must make some mandatory lifestyle changes which include no consumption of any alcoholic beverages, alternating eating habits especially avoiding foods high in sodium and taking medications prescribed by the doctor are some treatment options (Lee, 2014).
Once the liver has been damaged there is no cure in fixing the liver however the amazing thing about the liver is the individual may still live a healthy life if the damage is not severe and it is caught early. If you suspect you may have liver damage the doctor may want to perform a liver biopsy to confirm the liver damage and severity. Person with Hepatitis C will need to avoid alcohol permanently, eat a diet low in sodium and exclude prescription and non prescription medications that contain acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen. We recommend the person suffering with this disease acquire immunization shots for Hepatitis A and B, influenza and pneumoccus to avoid further complications to the liver that may cause the liver to worsen. A Liver transplant is possibly the only cure for the person with Hepatitis C however the person must go through a multitude of test to determine if the individual is eligible to under the transplant. There is also multiple disqualifiers that would eliminate the chance of someone receiving a new liver these factors include advanced cardiac, pulmonary or nervous disease, certain types of infections, cancer of or near the liver, failure of one or more vital organ, active alcohol or drug abuse, behavior problems that may interfere with compliance, lack of social support and or being severely over weight and with a body mass index of above 40 ("Liver Transplant", 2009-2013). If the liver is damaged significantly and a liver transplant is denied or a liver is unavailable the death is prominent. Liver disease can be slowed if the person suffering adapts to change and reaches out to local support groups and organizations for additional information and support. There are many places that can be used as a resource to get further information and become aware about cirrhosis. There are foundations and organization that have websites with information such as the American Liver Foundation, National Institute of Health, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are also medical websites that have lots of information and resources about the disease a few examples are WebMD and Mayo Clinic. Additional resources promoting awareness are social media sites like Facebook. There are also many videos that can be found on YouTube. Another way to show awareness is to wear a Yellow ribbon which represents Liver diseases.
As the Directors at Sharp Reese Medical Facility it is important to raise awareness about the importance of the liver to the human body and the many important functions that it performs for the body such as digestion and the filtration of toxins and drugs from the blood. Currently there is no cure for cirrhosis and once scarring happen the liver tissues that are damaged cannot be restored. Since there is no cure it is highly important to live a healthy and make good healthy life style choices such as limiting alcohol consumption maintaining a healthy diet and avoid taking drugs.

References
Cirrhosis of the Liver. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/cirrhosis-liver
Hepatitis Health Center. (July 6, 2011). Retrieved from http://www.webmed.com/hepatitis/hepc-guide/hepatitis-c-topic-overview Lee, D. (2014). Cirrhosis (Cirrhosis of the Liver). Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/cirrhosis/page4.htm
Liver Transplant. (2009-2013). Retrieved from http://www.stlukeshouston.com/OurServices/Transplant/LiverTransplant/Liver-Transplant-FAQs.cfm#not
Murphy, S. L., Xu, J., & Kochenek, K. D. (2013, May). National Vital Statistics Reports. , 61(4),Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_04.pdf
Roguin, A. (2006, September). Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781–1826): The Man Behind the Stethoscope. Clinical Medicine & Research, 4(3), 230-235. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1570491/

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