Q1:
What is fatty liver?
Fatty liver is actually fat deposits in liver cells, which generally need to be detected by imaging examinations, such as abdominal B-ultrasound or CT, either to find changes in the echo of the liver, or to find that the density of the liver is different. .
More precisely, in medical terms, fatty liver disease is diagnosed when more than 5% of the liver cells become fatty.
Q2:
Is fatty liver a serious disease?
For most people, when fatty liver is first detected, there may be no symptoms, blood tests for liver function, transaminases, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, bile Indicators such as red pigment are also within the normal range, which creates an impression on everyone – this disease does not matter.
But in fact, it may have been simple fatty liver at that time. If you don’t pay attention, it may lead to steatohepatitis, and it may even be related to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in the future.
At present, the proportion of simple fatty liver may reach 70%-90%, and fatty liver should not be taken lightly.
Q3:
Can fatty liver get better without medication?
Many people think that “to treat fatty liver is not to eat less, or to stop drinking”! Indeed, reducing body weight and waist circumference is the most important treatment measure for the prevention and treatment of “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease” and its complications. Controlling diet and abstinence from alcohol are necessary.
But this does not mean that “fatty liver can be cured without taking medicine”. We have encountered many clinical cases, which have proved that it is difficult to improve fatty liver only through lifestyle intervention. .
For example, for an overweight and obese patient, we can change his lifestyle to reduce his body weight by 5% or even 10%, and maintain it for more than a year. It is very difficult to achieve Effect.
AndIn most cases, he may also have high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood lipids, and high uric acid along with fatty liver, which must be treated with medication.
In addition, some patients have high transaminase levels themselves. Don’t wait until 3-6 months to change your lifestyle, because if you wait 3-6 months, you may be waiting for a disease. If it gets worse, if you intervene with drugs, the effect will be greatly reduced.
So if you suffer from fatty liver, you should go to the hospital as soon as possible. The doctor will make a diagnosis according to the severity of the condition. Don’t take medicine in advance.
For patients with fatty liver combined with other diseases or with high transaminase levels, we advocate pharmaceutical intervention as soon as possible. This drug may target blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids. It may also be aimed at liver damage and elevated transaminases.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Q4:
Fatty liver, how to treat it?
In terms of fatty liver treatment, what we most emphasize is to distinguish the causes of fatty liver formation, and the possible incentives, or related diseases that coexist with it, and then combine Treatments such as drugs and surgery.
If you are a patient with alcoholic fatty liver disease, stop drinking alcohol for one year, and then use some liver-protecting and enzyme-lowering drugs to make liver damage improve in time.
If it is a patient with fatty liver caused by obesity, first of all, it is necessary to control the weight gain, so that the waist circumference can be reduced, so that the fat deposition in the liver can be reduced.
If a patient with a fatty liver caused by a drug can reduce or stop the drug when the condition is stable, the fatty liver may also improve.
So it is very important to find the cause. If the cause can be removed, the fatty liver can still recover before it reaches the level of cirrhosis.
Once it progresses to the stage of cirrhosis, or even to the stage of liver cancer, it is difficult to reverse it by quitting alcohol or losing weight. At this time, the doctor will treat according to the condition.
Q5:
How can I protect my liver if I have fatty liver?
A liver with fatty liver is more susceptible to damage than a liver without fatty deposits. For example, if a liver surgery is to be performed, the liver with fatty deposits can withstand the volume of liver resection, which is much smaller than that of the normal liver.
For patients with fatty liver, everyday efforts should be made to reduce liver fat deposition, eat less and move more, and reduce alcohol consumption as much as possible.
Through these methods, the fat in the liver can be reduced as much as possible, or even returned to normal, so as to relieve the “liver crisis”.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Q6:
I have fatty liver, can I still eat fatty meat?
If you suffer from fatty liver, even if it is caused by obesity, it is okay to eat some braised pork or even a little meat oil occasionally. But definitely not too much, to control the frequency and amount of consumption.
After eating fat, it is necessary to increase the amount of exercise to maintain a negative balance of body energy in order to reduce liver fat.
Q7:
What should I pay attention to when taking liver protection drugs?
Many patients have taken hepatoprotective drugs, and they go to check their liver function after two weeks or four weeks, hoping to see the effect; if they don’t see the effect, they hope to add the drug, but in fact it is unnecessary. All patients should be patient and do not rush when starting liver-protective drug treatment.
Hepatoprotective medicine itself is a symptom, not a cure, and it cannot be stopped casually. If the doctor finds that steatohepatitis has become simple fatty liver after diagnosis, the patient can be advised to stop the drug, but many patients will reduce the dose without permission as long as the symptoms of steatohepatitis are relieved. Once the drug is stopped, it will rebound again, which is not conducive to long-term treatment.
Therefore, patients with fatty liver should take liver-protecting medicines, don’t worry, and don’t blindly stop taking medicines.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
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