Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffComplications of alcoholic hepatitis include:
- Increased blood pressure in the portal vein. Blood from your intestine, spleen and pancreas enters your liver through a large blood vessel called the portal vein. If scar tissue blocks normal circulation through the liver, this blood backs up, leading to increased pressure within the vein (portal hypertension).
- Enlarged veins (varices). When circulation through the portal vein is blocked, blood may back up into other blood vessels in the stomach and esophagus. These blood vessels are thin walled, and because they're filled with more blood than they're meant to carry, they're likely to bleed. Massive bleeding in the upper stomach or esophagus from these blood vessels is a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate medical care.
- Fluid retention. Alcoholic liver disease can cause large amounts of fluid to accumulate in your abdominal cavity (ascites). Several factors play a role in fluid buildup, including portal hypertension and changes in the hormones and chemicals that regulate fluids in your body. Ascites can be uncomfortable and may interfere with breathing. In addition, abdominal fluid may become infected and require treatment with antibiotics. Although not life-threatening in itself, ascites is usually a sign of advanced alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis.
- Bruising and bleeding. Alcoholic hepatitis interferes with the production of proteins that help your blood clot and with the absorption of vitamin K, which plays a role in synthesizing these proteins. As a result, you may bruise and bleed more easily than normal. Bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract is a common complication.
- Jaundice. This occurs when your liver isn't able to remove bilirubin — the residue of old red blood cells — from your blood. Eventually, bilirubin builds up and is deposited in your skin and the whites of your eyes, causing a yellow color.
- Hepatic encephalopathy. A liver damaged by alcoholic hepatitis has trouble removing toxins from your body — normally one of the liver's key tasks. The buildup of toxins such as ammonia — a byproduct of protein digestion — can damage your brain, leading to changes in your mental state, behavior and personality (hepatic encephalopathy). Signs and symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy include forgetfulness, confusion and mood changes, and in the most severe cases, delirium and coma.
- Cirrhosis. This serious condition, which is an insidious and irreversible scarring of the liver, is the fourth-leading cause of death in Americans ages 45 to 54. Cirrhosis frequently leads to liver failure, which occurs when the damaged liver is no longer able to adequately function.
