Below is a broad introduction to the types of liver disease or conditions.
- Cholestasis is the result of damage to the bile ducts caused by diseases such as primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), obstetric cholestasis (OC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Obstruction of the common bile duct (the main duct from the liver) may result in jaundice, caused by conditions such as gallstones or a tumour.
- Infective damage such as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
- Chemical damage such as poisoning and substance abuse – paracetamol overdose, recreational drugs and alcohol.
- Genetic or hereditary damage such as Crigler-Najar syndrome, Dubin-Johnson syndrome, haemochromatosis and Wilson’s disease.
- Vascular damage such as Budd-Chiari syndrome.
- Autoimmune damage such as PBC, PSC and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).
- Congenital damage such as choledochal cyst, Caroli’s syndrome and Gilbert’s syndrome.
- Metabolic damage such as galactosaemia, fatty liver disease, non alcoholic fatty liver
disease (NAFLD) and non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
When diagnosing liver disease the most useful test in each disease is often (but not always)
|
Disease |
Test or procedure |
|
Alcohol related liver disease |
History/liver function tests (blood sample) |
|
Autoimmune hepatitis |
Autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibody and anti-smooth muscle antibody (blood sample) |
|
Haemochromatosis |
HFE Gene analysis for C282Y or H63D mutation (blood sample) |
|
Hepatitis A
|
Antibody test (blood sample) |
|
Hepatitis B |
Antibody, antigen tests/hepatitis B DNA (blood sample) |
|
Hepatitis C |
Antibody test/hepatitis C RNA (blood sample) |
|
Fatty liver disease, non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) |
History/liver function tests (blood sample)/ BMI/ultrasound scan appearance and liver biopsy |
|
Primary biliary cirrhosis
|
Anti-mitochondrial antibody (blood sample) |
|
Primary sclerosing cholangitis
|
Biopsy/bile duct imaging – ERCP |
|
Wilson’s disease |
Genetic analysis/copper studies (blood and urine samples), slit lamp examination of the eyes. |
Often a liver biopsy is required to confirm the diagnosis. The need for this will be guided by your doctor or liver specialist.