Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver caused by continuous, long-term liver damage.

Scar tissue replaces healthy tissue in the liver and prevents the liver from working properly.

The damage caused by cirrhosis can’t be reversed and can eventually become so extensive that your liver stops functioning. This is called liver failure.

Cirrhosis can be fatal if the liver fails. However, it usually takes years for the condition to reach this stage and treatment can help slow its progression.

Each year in the UK, around 4,000 people die from cirrhosis and 700 people with the condition need a liver transplant to survive.

Symptoms

There are usually few symptoms in the early stages of cirrhosis. However, as your liver loses its ability to function properly, you’re likely to experience a loss of appetite, nausea and itchy skin.

In the later stages, symptoms can include jaundice, vomiting blood, dark, tarry-looking stools, and a build-up of fluid in the legs (oedema) and abdomen (ascites).

Read more about the symptoms of cirrhosis.


There are usually few symptoms during the early stages of cirrhosis. Noticeable problems tend to develop as the liver becomes more damaged.

In early stage cirrhosis, the liver is able to function properly despite being damaged. As the condition progresses, symptoms tend to develop when functions of the liver are affected.

Symptoms of cirrhosis can include:

tiredness and weakness loss of appetite weight loss and muscle wasting feeling sick (nausea) and vomiting tenderness or pain around the liver area tiny red lines (blood capillaries) on the skin above waist level very itchy skin yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes (jaundice) a tendency to bleed and bruise more easily, such as frequent nosebleeds or bleeding gums hair loss fever and shivering attacks swelling in the legs, ankles and feet due to a build-up of fluid (oedema) swelling in your abdomen (tummy), due to a build-up of fluid known as ascites (severe cases can make you look heavily pregnant)

You may also notice changes in your personality, problems sleeping (insomnia), memory loss, confusion and difficulty concentrating. This is known as encephalopathy and occurs when toxins affect your brain because your liver is unable to remove them from your body.


In the later stages of cirrhosis, you may vomit blood or have tarry, black stools. This is because blood can’t flow through the liver properly, which causes an increase in blood pressure in the vein that carries blood from the gut to the liver (portal vein).

The increase in blood pressure forces blood through smaller, fragile vessels that line your stomach and gullet (varices). These can burst under high blood pressure, leading to internal bleeding, which is visible in vomit and/or stools.

Over time, the toxins that would normally be removed from the body by a healthy liver can cause multiple organ failure, followed by death.


A number of treatments can ease the symptoms of cirrhosis, including:

a low-sodium (salt) diet or tablets called diuretics to reduce the amount of fluid in your body tablets to reduce high blood pressure in your portal vein (the main vein that transports blood from the gut to the liver) and prevent or treat any infection creams to reduce itching