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How To Tell If You Have Liver Enlargement

12th April, 2011 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Enlarged liver signs usually indicate that your liver is inflamed and swollen due to any one of various potential developing liver disorders. A person who has enlarged liver signs should seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Usually, by the time signs of liver enlargement can be diagnosed, meaningful liver damage has most likely already happened. If the problem is not arrested, it might sooner or later result in liver failure. Once failure has occurred, a liver transplant is the patient’s only hope for survival.

The medical term for enlarged liver is hepatomegaly.

Liver enlargement is not a disease. It is, however, a symptom that a liver problem is developing.

There are no early indications of liver enlargement. But if the underlying disease is not identified and treated, the liver will sooner or later get so big that the following signs will begin to present themselves.

* tenderness in the upper abdomen

* a feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen and lower stomach

* abdominal fluid buildup (a malady called ascites)

* less desire to eat

*tenderness in joints and muscles

* a cough that doesn’t come from a cold or the flu

* irregular bowel habits that may include episodes of constipation or diarrhea

* tiredness and weakness

* episode of sickness and vomiting, now and again accompanied by fever

* Urine is occasionally murky or dark

People with signs of liver enlargement often have above average sensitivity to light that is called photophobia. The patient’s ability to smell can be heightened, and a variety of ordinary odors may become disagreeable.

One of the few confirmed signs of a liver condition is jaundice, which makes the complexion and whites of the eyes turn yellow. Jaundice occurs when there’s an excessive proportion of a bile pigment called bilirubin in the body.. Abnormal amounts of bilirubin destroy liver tissue, causing signs of liver enlargement.

There are certain other ailments which indicate that some form of liver disease or damage has started. One is cholestasis, which happens when there’s an obstruction that blocks the flow of bile from the liver. Another example is portal hypertension, which is a symptom of high blood pressure in the portal vein. This blood vessel transports blood from the intestines to the liver.

The physician will want to get the results of diagnostic tests to ascertain the stage to which liver enlargement has progressed. The tests usually include a liver biopsy, liver function tests, an ultrasound or a CT scan.

Every now and then both the liver and spleen get enlarged together. When this takes place, the malady is called hepatosplenomegaly.

For more information on this and related topics, click on enlarged liver symptoms and liver enlargement causes.