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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Cirrhosis is caused by scar tissue that forms in your liver in response to damage that occurs repeatedly over many years.
Each time your liver is injured, it tries to repair itself. In the process, scar tissue forms in the liver. As the scar tissue builds up, it becomes increasingly difficult for the liver to function. In advanced cirrhosis, the liver no longer works. Because the liver is a vital organ that you can't live without, if it fails it must be replaced with a liver transplant.
A number of causes of liver damage
A wide variety of diseases and conditions can damage the liver and lead to cirrhosis, including:
- Chronic alcohol abuse
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Cystic fibrosis
- Destruction of the bile ducts (primary biliary cirrhosis)
- Fat that accumulates in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease)
- Hardening and scarring of the bile ducts (primary sclerosing cholangitis)
- Inability to process sugars in milk (galactosemia)
- Iron buildup in the body (hemochromatosis)
- Liver disease caused by your body's immune system (autoimmune hepatitis)
- Parasite common in developing countries (schistosomiasis)
- Poorly formed bile ducts in babies (biliary atresia)
- Problems storing and releasing energy your cells need to function (glycogen storage disease)
- Too much copper accumulated in the liver (Wilson's disease)
- Bonis PAL, et al. Patient information: Cirrhosis. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Goldberg E, et al. Overview of the complications, prognosis and management of cirrhosis. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed Dec. 16, 2008.
- Cirrhosis basics. American Gastroenterological Association. http://www.gastro.org/frame-templates/print_template.cfm. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Kelso LN. Cirrhosis: Caring for patients with end-stage liver failure. The Nurse Practitioner. 2008;33:24.
- McNally PR, et al. Common GI problems: Volume 3. American College of Gastroenterology. http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/cgp/cgpvol3.asp?mode=print&. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Cirrhosis. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/education/info/cirrhosis/. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Liver health tips. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. http://www.aasld.org/yourliver/Pages/LiverHealthTips.aspx. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Rambaldi A, et al. S-adenosyl-L-methionine for alcoholic liver disease (review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2006:CD002235.
- Seeff LB. Herbal hepatotoxicity. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2007;11:577.
- Tillisch K. Complementary and alternative medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. Clinical Medicine. 2007;7:224.
- Rambaldi A, et al. Milk thistle for alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C virus liver diseases (review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007:CD003620.
