Complaints
Often the patient does not even notice the disease fatty liver, because fatty liver does not directly lead to liver pain or discomfort. What he most likely notices is a rather diffuse symptom in the right upper abdomen with a feeling of pressure or fullness as an expression of the increase in size of the liver. Only when an inflammatory reaction occurs do other symptoms typical of liver diseases such as jaundice (icterus), pain, nausea, etc. appear. However, even these are usually only mildly pronounced.
Diagnostics of fatty liver
For the doctor, suspicious facts such as alcohol abuse, malnutrition, diabetes (diabetes) or obesity (pathological overweight) are often already present in the medical history (anamnesis). In the course of the clinical examination, a palpably enlarged liver (hepatomegaly, swollen liver) can be detected, which shows a typical picture in the ultrasound. The blood values are usually normal, only an increase in gGT (liver enzyme, an increase indicates liver damage) is found. If there are no further complaints, this confirms the suspected diagnosis of fatty liver, which would only be proven by a liver biopsy (tissue sample of the liver).
Therapy
Patients with fatty liver hepatitis/oily liver have a significantly increased risk of developing liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, the therapy of fatty liver is important, especially because it is completely curable. In general, liver-damaging drugs and food components should be avoided if possible in order to stop the progression of fatty liver.
The causal therapy of fatty liver depends on the cause of the fatty liver, for example, strict avoidance of alcohol or harmful drugs, adequate treatment of diabetes or normalization of weight and nutrition. With these relatively simple and gentle treatment options, a complete regression of fatty liver is possible!
