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Hepatitis C, spread primarily through contact with blood or blood products, is considered part of a "silent epidemic" - many infected people show no symptoms of liver disease.
"The most common cause of liver cancer worldwide is chronic hepatitis B infection," says Dr. Kia Saeian, Associate Professor of Medicine and and Director of the Froedtert & Medical College Hepatitis Treatment Program.
"Acute hepatitis can cause short-term jaundice, fatigue which is severe in some people, and itching, which is very common," says Dr. Kia Saeian. "Most people with hepatitis A get a complete resolution of their symptoms."
With the growing sophistication of doctors in overcoming the tendency for transplant rejection, the success of liver transplants is now remarkably "over 95% at one year," says Jose Franco, MD.
Killing the hepatitis C virus protects your liver from future damage, but if your liver was already scarred you might be fatigued from the problems that were present before therapy.
"It's an elegant procedure," Dr. William Rilling says about the breakthrough treatment called TheraSphere. "Recovery time is shorter than with other procedures, and the outcomes are shown to be at least as good as conventional therapy."
While the exact cause of steatohepatitis is not clear, obesity and diabetes can be instigators. The treatment consists of gradual weight loss, physical activity, and control of diabetes and high cholesterol.
Management of complex disorders of the pancreas, liver, gall bladder and bile duct is difficult and exacting. Fortunately, individuals with these disorders can find help and hope at the Pancreaticobiliary Center at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin.
An adult male who is 6 feet 5 inches tall is taller than more than 95% of adult men, but that does not mean he is abnormal. In the same way, you may have a relatively high GGT but normal liver function.
Dr. Kristine Spinelli agrees that whole-body scans can detect abnormalities; but, she says, "it turns out that most of these abnormalities, when looked at closely, do not have an effect on the person's health and well-being."
"The time period when most people became infected with hepatitis C was between 1970 and 1985," says Dr. Jose Franco. "The patients who were infected many years ago are now getting very sick." Newer treatments, though effective, can't help them all.
The single most effective way to prevent the spread of the hepatitis A virus is through good hygiene, especially careful handwashing.
Alcohol abuse is one of the major causes of fatty liver, but obesity, hepatitis C, diabetes and protein malnutrition are other common causes.
Hereditary hemochromatosis, a condition in which excess (and ultimately toxic) levels of iron slowly accumulate in various organs, is one of the most common genetic diseases in humans.
The presence of Hepatitis C infection in cocaine users who thought they were healthy suggests a silent epidemic in an unsuspecting population.
Medical College researchers find that resection and/or cryosurgery can be used to treat a larger number of liver tumors in a single procedure than previous methods, and that the long term survival of patients is improving with the use of new techniques in tumor detection and treatment.
The recent addition of cryosurgery to standard surgical techniques has expanded the number of patients who may benefit from surgical treatment of liver tumors.
Recently developed treatments include freezing tumors (cryoablation), heating tumors (radiofrequency ablation) or directing chemotherapy to the tumor (chemoembolization or hepatic artery infusion).
Hepatitis C was largely unknown until testing and widespread screening became available in the 1990s. Now it’s a leading reason for liver transplants.
"Her long term prognosis is excellent and she will not have any evidence of liver disease in the future."
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