Thursday Club's Diseases All Medstudents Should Understand/Alcoholic Liver Disease

This disease can take various forms. In its most benign, it can be fatty liver disease. In its more serious it can be hepatitis, or eventually cirrhosis. Hepatitis is simply inflammation of the liver tissue which leads to infiltration of lymphocytes. Fatty liver disease occurs when the liver's metabolism becomes skewed towards synthesising fatty acids. Cirrhosis is the end-stage of hepatitis, when the repair mechanism has decompensated. Nodules of healing tissue is surrounded by fibrosis rings. It occurs in about 1 in 10 alcoholics.