Common misconceptions about liver disease diagnosis and treatment

  Myth 1: normal liver function is fine, no need for further examination and treatment; Clinical common some patients (including some hepatitis B patients and most hepatitis C patients), the usual physical examination only check liver function, as long as the liver function is normal, most patients and even some clinicians think that the situation does not need further treatment and treatment, so there has been no further examination and treatment, but years later some patients have symptoms onset of both is Liver cirrhosis or liver cancer, why?  This is because liver function as an evaluation of the presence of active liver lesions has certain defects, for a study of hepatitis B patients showed that nearly 20% of the so-called HBV carrier patients with normal liver function, liver puncture histopathology suggests the presence of significant inflammation or fibrosis, so patients with normal liver function also have the possibility of chronic active liver lesions or even serious liver lesions, and these patients are in need of antiviral treatment; therefore, it is recommended that patients with chronic HBV infection who are in a position to do so should undergo liver aspiration histology as much as possible, especially in patients with high viral load, and if this is not possible, they must also ensure that liver function, HBVDNA quantification, AFP, hepatobiliary and splenic ultrasound, liver fibrosis quadruple or non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis are reviewed regularly for 3-6 months, rather than just liver function, in order to dynamically monitor changes in their condition and For patients with hepatitis C, liver function tests are even less able to objectively reflect liver lesions, and patients with normal clinical liver function are actually already in early cirrhosis, and the hepatitis C virus does not cause the immune tolerance status of the body. Therefore, patients found to be positive for hepatitis C antibody must be tested for HCV RNA quantification.  Myth 2: Liver-protective and enzyme-lowering drugs are harmless; many patients with liver disease are used to taking some liver-protective and enzyme-lowering drugs regardless of their condition, thinking that this is beneficial to their condition; unbeknownst to them, most drugs need to be metabolized by the liver and kidneys, and most of them may increase the burden on the liver and aggravate liver damage; in addition, enzyme-lowering drugs, like painkillers, are easy to create the illusion of masking changes in the condition and make doctors and patients relax their vigilance, often resulting in a decrease in transaminases but in fact, the disease is not as bad as the disease. In addition, like painkillers, enzyme-lowering drugs can easily create a false impression and conceal changes in the disease, making doctors and patients relax their vigilance, often resulting in a situation where transaminases fall but the disease is actually very serious, bringing immeasurable damage to patients’ health.  Misconception 3: Chinese medicine is harmless and suitable for chronic conditioning; In recent years, due to misleading advertising, many people think that Chinese medicine is a natural substance and harmless to human body, resulting in the habit of taking some Chinese medicine when they are sick; at the same time, many patients rush to doctors, listen to one side of the story, believe in biased prescriptions and experimental prescriptions, and do not take Chinese medicine, external herbs, or even cut and bleed according to their condition. In fact, medicine is toxic, so is Chinese medicine, not pure natural substances are non-toxic, some Chinese medicine toxic side effects are very large, a considerable part of the clinical drug hepatitis caused by taking Chinese medicine, especially taking the pharmacology, toxicology is not very clear Chinese medicine prescriptions and prescriptions often bring serious damage to the audience; In addition, some Chinese medicine prescriptions and prescriptions often In addition, some herbal prescriptions and prescriptions tend to exaggerate their efficacy, and herbal prescriptions may be effective for some individuals, but most of them lack large-scale clinical validation, and their ingredients are complex, and their efficacy often depends on a variety of factors that are difficult to control, such as origin, harvesting season and manufacturing method, so it is questionable whether they are effective for most patients. Most of the other drugs have no antiviral effect, therefore, it is not beneficial to be used for chronic regimen and may increase the burden on the liver.