Liver Pain

Introduction

Listed below is an overview of all diseases that can cause liver pain.

General Symptoms

Causes

Rarely does the pain experienced as liver pain rarely actually come from the liver. In these rare cases, the cause is usually an increase in the size of the liver. This creates tension on the capsule surrounding the liver, which is sensitive to pain, unlike the liver.

The tension irritates the capsule and causes pain. Causes of this swelling of the liver can be malignant diseases such as leukemia (blood cancer) and liver tumors, but also other causes such as liver abscesses (for example after surgery) and large cysts. A functional weakness of the heart (cardiac insufficiency) can also lead to an enlargement of the liver or a backlog of blood in the liver.

Inflammation of the liver can also lead to a painful enlargement. These include infectious hepatitis diseases, but these are generally rarely accompanied by severe pain in the liver area. Inflammation as part of fatty liver disease can also cause pain.

A fatty liver is primarily caused by an unhealthy diet, overweight and/or regular consumption of alcohol. As mentioned above, there are also pains that are localized in the liver area but do not actually come from the liver. Gallstones are a typical example.

The gallbladder is located on the underside of the liver and is fixed there. The gallbladder can cause pain for two reasons: it may be inflamed or a gallstone may be stuck in one of the bile ducts. Often, the inflammation of the gallbladder occurs after a gallstone has prevented the flow of bile.

What to do with liver pain – General information

As mentioned above, what is perceived as liver pain is in most cases not pain that actually emanates directly from the liver. In order to decide what to do about pain located in the right costal arch, the most important question is what the possible causes are. One of the most common causes of pain localized in the area of the liver is probably biliary colic when the bile ducts are blocked by a stone or inflammation of the gall bladder.

If such a disease is suspected, a doctor should be consulted. In general, a doctor can detect abnormalities in the area of the liver with the help of an ultrasound examination. However, it is not always necessary to see a doctor if there is pain in the area of the right costal arch.

Often it helps to wait a little. You can also try whether heat (for example, in the form of a cherry stone pillow or a hot water bottle) or cold (for example, in the form of a cool pack wrapped in a towel) can provide relief. If the pain persists for several hours or even days, it can get significantly worse or come in waves, i.e. colicky, it is advisable to consult a doctor for further diagnosis.

The liver is the organ in which the absorbed alcohol is broken down. However, it is very unusual for liver pain to occur after alcohol consumption. The liver rarely causes pain, even in cases of advanced liver disease caused by chronic alcohol consumption.

In general, however, even in the absence of pain, alcohol should be avoided if the liver is already damaged. The first point of contact for pain is always the treating family doctor. He or she can perform the initial examinations (anamnesis, blood sample, physical examination) and then decide whether further treatment, for example with a specialist for gastrointestinal diseases (gastroenterologist), is necessary. If an enlargement of the liver is the cause of the symptoms, a malignant disease may also be responsible in rare cases. In this case, the family doctor may also refer the patient to a cancer specialist (oncologist) for further diagnosis.