Stage 1 is inflammation of your liver, caused by your immune system reacting to a foreign substance, like toxins. Chronic inflammation can lead to an enlarged liver. Inflammation can result from fatty liver, hepatitis, and other causes.
Cirrhosis of the Liver: Life Expectancy at End Stages
The most common symptom is fatigue. The cirrhosis is still reversible during this stage, but not enough liver tissue has been damaged to produce obvious symptoms of disease. Patients with stage 1 cirrhosis have a 99% 1-year survival rate.
This is called alcoholic fatty liver disease, and is the first stage of ARLD. Fatty liver disease rarely causes any symptoms, but it's an important warning sign that you're drinking at a harmful level. Fatty liver disease is reversible.
Cirrhosis cannot usually be cured, but there are ways to manage the symptoms and any complications, and stop the condition getting worse.
People with cirrhosis in Class A have the best prognosis, with a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years. People with cirrhosis in Class B are still healthy, with a life expectancy of 6 to 10 years. As a result, these people have plenty of time to seek sophisticated therapy alternatives such as a liver transplant.
People with cirrhosis of the liver have a life expectancy of between two and 12 years. If you have early-stage cirrhosis, treatment and lifestyle changes can help you live longer. People with advanced cirrhosis of the liver have a much shorter life expectancy.
Foods that support liver health include berries, cruciferous vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, and fatty fish. Coffee and green tea contain antioxidants that are helpful for liver health.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
“The scary thing is that they're only in their 30s and 40s,” he says, noting that the chances of developing liver disease go up the longer a person has been drinking and is most common between the ages of 40 and 50. Other Yale Medicine doctors have diagnosed people with liver disease when they are still in their 20s.
The CDC note that the symptoms of acute disease can occur anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months after exposure. The symptoms of chronic hepatitis can take decades to show up.
If you stop drinking alcohol for 2 weeks, your liver should return to normal.
Although scarring from liver disease causes permanent damage, it's still possible to live a long life. Depending on the underlying cause, it's possible to slow or stop cirrhosis from worsening. Many of the causes and complications that lead to cirrhosis are treatable or manageable.
Early Diagnosis of Liver Disease is Very Important
If you're diagnosed when some scar tissue has already formed, your liver can repair and even regenerate itself. Because of this, damage from liver disease can often be reversed with a well-managed treatment plan.
Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Eat a well-balanced diet every day. That's five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables, along with fiber from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Be sure to include protein for the enzymes that help your body detox naturally.
Egg whites are good for your liver, but over-consumption can lead to digestion issues and the yellow yolk is a source of bad cholesterol. These are the foods that are bad for the kidneys and liver.
Compensated cirrhosis: People with compensated cirrhosis do not show symptoms, while life expectancy is around 9–12 years. A person can remain asymptomatic for years, although 5–7% of those with the condition will develop symptoms every year.
When a patient's liver disease reaches cirrhosis, a stage when the liver damage can no longer be reversed, it becomes a terminal diagnosis. Unlike most terminal illnesses, a cure may be available for some patients through a liver transplant.