Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Treatments for the underlying cause of cirrhosis
In early cirrhosis, it may be possible to minimize damage to the liver by treating the underlying cause. For example:
- Treatment for alcohol dependency. People with cirrhosis caused by alcohol use need to stop drinking. If stopping alcohol use is difficult, your doctor may recommend a treatment program for alcohol addiction.
- Medications to control hepatitis. Medications may control damage to liver cells caused by hepatitis B or C.
Treatments for complications of cirrhosis
Your health care team will work to treat any complications of cirrhosis, such as:
- Excess fluid in your body. Fluid that accumulates in your abdomen (ascites) or your legs (edema) may be managed with a low-sodium diet and water pills. More severe fluid buildup may require procedures to drain the fluid or surgery to relieve pressure.
- Increased pressure in the portal vein and surrounding small veins. Blood pressure medications may control increasing pressure in the veins around your liver. This may prevent severe bleeding. Surgery to place a stent to hold open the portal vein also may be necessary. Your doctor may recommend an endoscopy procedure to examine the veins in your esophagus and stomach for signs of bleeding.
- Infections. You may receive antibiotics or other treatments for infections.
- Liver cancer screening. Your doctor may recommend periodic blood tests and ultrasound exams to look for signs of liver cancer.
- High levels of toxins in the blood (hepatic encephalopathy). Your doctor may instruct you to watch for signs and symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy, which can range from confusion and mild changes in your thinking to coma. Medications can help treat hepatic encephalopathy.
Liver transplant surgery
People with advanced cirrhosis may require liver transplants if their livers are no longer functioning (liver failure). Liver transplant is a procedure to remove your liver and replace it with a whole liver from a deceased donor or with part of a liver from a living donor.
- Bonis PAL, et al. Patient information: Cirrhosis. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Goldberg E, et al. Overview of the complications, prognosis and management of cirrhosis. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed Dec. 16, 2008.
- Cirrhosis basics. American Gastroenterological Association. http://www.gastro.org/frame-templates/print_template.cfm. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Kelso LN. Cirrhosis: Caring for patients with end-stage liver failure. The Nurse Practitioner. 2008;33:24.
- McNally PR, et al. Common GI problems: Volume 3. American College of Gastroenterology. http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/cgp/cgpvol3.asp?mode=print&. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Cirrhosis. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/education/info/cirrhosis/. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Liver health tips. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. http://www.aasld.org/yourliver/Pages/LiverHealthTips.aspx. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Rambaldi A, et al. S-adenosyl-L-methionine for alcoholic liver disease (review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2006:CD002235.
- Seeff LB. Herbal hepatotoxicity. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2007;11:577.
- Tillisch K. Complementary and alternative medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. Clinical Medicine. 2007;7:224.
- Rambaldi A, et al. Milk thistle for alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C virus liver diseases (review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007:CD003620.
