How long do you live with cirrhosis of the liver?
For the title, the editor first needs to clarify with you:
- If liver cirrhosis develops complications and improper treatment, it will indeed affect life expectancy. The 5-year survival rate is only 14% to 35%;
If it is only liver cirrhosis without complications, that is, compensated liver cirrhosis, the liver function can function normally at this time, and the life expectancy of such a patient can be comparable to that of ordinary people, and can prolong the life of the disease;
How to better prolong life with illness? That is - standardized treatment, healthy diet!
Two days ago, I met Mr. Liang, a hepatitis B patient who was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis for the first time. Mr. Liang said that he only knew that he had been infected with hepatitis B in the past few years, but because there was no abnormality in his body and no discomfort, he had not paid much attention. The second physical examination was unexpectedly diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Suddenly frightened, I was very anxious to ask the doctor how long he could live?
In fact, the main reason why liver cirrhosis threatens people's lives is due to a series of complications in the late stage of liver cirrhosis, such as ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, infection, hepatorenal syndrome, electrolyte imbalance, combined Liver cancer, etc.
The more complications a patient has, the greater the threat to his life. Therefore, the treatment of patients with liver cirrhosis, on the one hand, is to treat the cause of liver cirrhosis; on the other hand, it is to actively control the complications of liver cirrhosis. Better disease control and less impact on lives.
Liver cirrhosis is divided into compensated stage (early stage) and decompensated stage (late stage). Like Mr. Liang mentioned above, he was in the compensated stage. Although he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, he did not experience any complications.
- Compensated liver cirrhosis
Compensation actually means that although the liver is damaged, it can still complete the tasks of various liver functions through the healthy part, so that the liver metabolism is not greatly affected. Therefore, in patients with early liver cirrhosis, the condition is relatively stable, and their life and work will not be affected too much.
Therefore, as long as you can actively cooperate with the doctor’s treatment, for example, patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis need to follow the doctor’s advice for long-term antiviral therapy to prevent further liver damage and worsen the condition; secondly, you should also pay attention to maintaining good living habits to protect the liver. With this multi-pronged approach, the life cycle of patients with early liver cirrhosis will not have much impact, and they can live longer like ordinary people.
- Decompensated liver cirrhosis
You must have guessed the meaning of the decompensation period, which means that the liver is damaged to a large extent, and the remaining healthy part can no longer complete the metabolic work, and its function can only be maintained through various treatments. The annual incidence of progression to decompensated cirrhosis is 3% to 5%, and the 5-year survival rate of decompensated cirrhosis is 14% to 35%.
This is what the common people call the late stage. The high mortality rate of liver cirrhosis is mostly due to the occurrence of many complications, such as ascites, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, combined liver cancer and many other complications.
Therefore, the main purpose of advanced liver cirrhosis is to control the complications. If the disease is actively treated and the disease does not develop further, the quality of life and survival time can be prolonged accordingly.
With the continuous improvement of the current medical level, there are many ways to treat the complications of liver cirrhosis. For example, it is recommended that patients with gastric varices undergo regular gastroscopy treatment, patients with ascites should be combined with diuretic drugs, tips surgery, liver transplantation and so on. As long as the patient actively cooperates with the attending doctor for treatment, many patients can improve liver function and quality of life, and achieve the purpose of prolonging the survival period and improving the quality of life.
Finally, I wish everyone a good health, review on time, do not panic when encountering problems, and communicate with the attending doctor to seek scientific and effective treatment methods.