What are the symptoms of early cirrhosis?

Written by Si Li Li
Gastroenterology
Updated on January 13, 2025
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Early-stage cirrhosis does not have specific symptoms, and its manifestations are not typical. Some patients may have no symptoms at all, while others may experience general weakness, aversion to greasy food, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, abdominal distension, and abdominal pain. If these symptoms occur, it is recommended to visit a hospital promptly for an examination to determine the specific illness. If diagnosed with cirrhosis, it is necessary to identify the cause. Common diseases that lead to cirrhosis include viral hepatitis, such as chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C, as well as alcoholic liver disease and fatty liver. Once the cause is identified, treatment can be targeted based on the specific cause.

Other Voices

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Gastroenterology
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What should I do about 7 episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding due to cirrhosis?

There are manifestations of cirrhosis, and it is accompanied by upper gastrointestinal bleeding, which occurs frequently. At this time, a gastroscopy should be conducted, in combination with an ultrasound examination of the liver, to determine whether portal hypertension is causing the bleeding. If the condition is serious, surgical treatment, such as disconnection or shunting, may be needed to relieve the pressure on the portal vein and mitigate the bleeding. Alternatively, vascular ligation can also be performed under gastroscopy to ligate the ruptured vessels, which can also stop the bleeding. Otherwise, long-term repeated heavy bleeding can easily lead to hemorrhagic anemia, and in severe cases, it can cause hemorrhagic shock, posing a life-threatening risk.

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Written by Shen Jiang Chao
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Can liver cirrhosis be detected by an ultrasound B-scan?

Liver cirrhosis can be diagnosed with an ultrasound. In the early stages of cirrhosis, there are no specific changes in the sonographic pattern visible on ultrasound. Typically, cirrhosis manifests as a decrease in liver volume, with imbalanced proportions of the liver lobes; both the left and right lobes may shrink, with compensatory hypertrophy observed in some cases in the left lobe. The liver capsule appears serrated, and the echoes from the liver area are coarser and stronger, with uneven distribution. It's possible to observe nodules with low or high echoes. The liver vessels vary in thickness, the hepatic veins may narrow, and the portal vein can widen. An enlarged portal vein can lead to symptoms like splenomegaly and ascites.

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Written by Li Hu Chen
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Can cirrhosis be detected by ultrasound B?

If there are signs of hardening in the liver, which we call cirrhosis, an ultrasound, specifically a hepatobiliary ultrasound, can detect it. Especially in the middle and late stages, cirrhosis has some characteristic features on an ultrasound. First, one can observe the size of the liver. By the middle and late stages, the liver usually shrinks—a slight enlargement may occur early on, but it generally progressively diminishes. Additionally, the texture of the liver becomes harder, and through the ultrasound, the texture appears uneven with a bumpy feeling, or in other words, there can be seen a diffuse and uneven echo. However, for early-stage cirrhosis, a standard ultrasound may not be as sensitive. Nowadays, there are digital liver ultrasounds specifically designed to measure the degree of liver hardness, which provide objective data to help diagnose more sensitively and objectively. This method can definitely detect the condition.

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Written by Si Li Li
Gastroenterology
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Will early-stage cirrhosis cause lower back pain?

In the early stages of cirrhosis, there are generally no specific symptoms. Some patients may experience symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and aversion to oily foods. Typically, symptoms do not include lower back pain. However, if lower back pain occurs, it is necessary to consider and rule out diseases that frequently cause this symptom. Firstly, conditions such as lumbar muscle strain; secondly, issues like lumbar disc herniation or lumbar spine diseases; thirdly, kidney-related diseases, such as kidney stones, etc. Therefore, it is essential to first determine the cause of the lower back pain, or from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, whether the pain is related to kidney deficiency? Then, a differential diagnosis can be made, followed by treatment. This approach will ensure more effective therapeutic outcomes.

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Can cirrhosis be detected by a CT scan?

Cirrhosis can be detected by a CT scan. Early-stage cirrhosis has no specific diagnostic value on CT, but middle to late-stage cirrhosis typically manifests as wavy changes in the liver capsule, enlarged liver lobes, and disproportionate size of liver lobes, with most changes involving an enlargement of the left lobe and caudate lobe and a relative shrinkage of the right lobe. Additionally, secondary manifestations of cirrhosis, such as portal hypertension, can cause enlargement of the spleen and varices in the lower esophagus and stomach fundus. When cirrhosis is detected, it is advisable to perform an enhanced CT scan to determine the potential for malignant transformation in liver regenerative nodules.