An overview of the dangers and treatment of liver fibrosis

Liver fibrosis is an intermediate step in the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis. Recent studies on liver disease have revealed that the common pathological basis of many chronic liver diseases is hepatic fibrosis, the mechanism of which is the body’s repair response to inflammation, just like the formation of scars from trauma. If patients with chronic liver disease do not undergo timely diagnosis and rational treatment, their condition will recur, and 10% to 15% of them will develop cirrhosis after 5 to 10 years. This leads to serious complications such as portal hypertension, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and even hepatocellular carcinoma. If the progression of liver fibrosis can be blocked or reversed, it will improve the quality of patients’ survival and improve the prognosis of liver disease to a large extent. Therefore, early implementation of liver fibrosis treatment is an important measure to prevent cirrhosis from occurring, and Chinese medicine advocates “preventing disease before it occurs, and preventing change when it occurs”. However, it should be noted that patients with liver fibrosis often do not have obvious clinical features, asymptomatic or only mild fatigue, loss of appetite, discomfort in the liver area, etc. Ultrasound imaging can be detected at an early stage, “the surface of the liver is not smooth, there are a small number of small nodules” and so on. There may not be spider nevi or liver palms, because liver function is normal or slightly abnormal, easy to be ignored by patients or doctors. When we sit in the expert clinic, we often come across some patients due to economic difficulties or busy work, long-term negligence of examination and do not accept formal treatment, or listen to individual media medicine advertisements misleading, take some detours, miss the best time for treatment, and wait until there is a serious discomfort and then come back to our hospital, has been cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer, it is too late to regret. Therefore, early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment are very necessary. For the treatment of liver fibrosis, the combination of traditional Chinese and western medicine has obvious advantages, which can target the cause of the disease. First of all, to get rid of the initiating factors of liver fibrosis, such as viral hepatitis (the most common are hepatitis B and C), we should correctly carry out antiviral therapy under the guidance of experienced specialists, commonly used interferon, lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir and so on. Alcoholic liver disease should abstain from alcohol, drug liver disease should stop using the suspected drugs, and bile duct disorders should be actively treated for the primary disease. In addition, according to the patient’s clinical manifestations and laboratory test results using traditional Chinese medicine evidence-based treatment, or dredge the liver, or activate blood circulation and eliminate blood stasis, or benefit the qi and nourish the yin, or soften the solid and dissipate the nodules, most of which can achieve more satisfactory results. However, drugs are not everything, but also to change the bad habits and lifestyle, avoid exertion, quit smoking and drinking, adjust the mood, moderate abstinence from sex, can get twice the result with half the effort. It is worth mentioning that anti-hepatic fibrosis treatment is not an overnight thing, to long-term persistence, and avoid short-term behavior.