부산대학교 도서관

This article explores disorders that can lead up to liver failure and discusses nursing guidelines for caring patients with liver failure. Liver disease, suggestively, falls into two main categories: hepatocellular, such as viral hepatitis or alcohol- or drug-related liver disease, and cholestatic, or obstructive disease, such as that caused by gallstones, malignancy, or primary biliary cirrhosis. Liver failure, also known as end-stage liver disease, can be caused by an acute injury or result from a chronic disease. Symptoms of liver failure occur later in patients with chronic liver disease. After describing the structural and physiological mechanism of liver, the article discusses various danger symptoms that can lead to liver failure. Hepatic encephalopathy is the broad term for neurologic changes caused by liver failure. Patients in liver failure, especially those with cirrhosis, have dilated peripheral blood vessels and increased cardiac output. It is also often found that scarring and fibrosis of the liver from chronic liver disease and splenomegaly often result in portal hypertension. Elevated liver enzymes, suggestively, are one of the first signs of liver disease. Balanced and good nutrition is suggested to be one of the primitive and important measure to reduce the risk of liver failure. INSETS: Common liver diseases in adults;Lab clues pointing to liver trouble.