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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffMany disease and conditions can cause an enlarged liver, including:
Liver diseases
- Cirrhosis
- Hepatitis caused by a virus — including hepatitis A, B and C — or caused by infectious mononucleosis
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
- Alcoholic fatty liver disease
- A disorder that causes abnormal protein to accumulate in your liver (amyloidosis)
- A disorder that causes copper to accumulate in your liver (Wilson's disease)
- A disorder that causes fatty substances to accumulate in your liver (Gaucher's disease)
- Fluid-filled pockets in the liver (liver cysts)
- Noncancerous liver tumors, including hemangioma and adenoma
- Obstruction of the gallbladder or bile ducts
- Toxic hepatitis
Cancers
- Cancer that begins in another part of the body and spreads to the liver
- Leukemia
- Liver cancer
- Lymphoma
Heart and blood vessel problems
- Blockage of the veins that drain the liver (Budd-Chiari syndrome)
- Heart failure
- Inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart (pericarditis)
- Problems with the heart's tricuspid valve (tricuspid regurgitation)
References
- Bergasa NV. Approach to the patient with liver disease. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/178983847-2/0/1492/0.html. Accessed Jan. 19, 2010.
- Hepatomegaly. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/1785151917/0/2088/0.html. Accessed Jan. 15, 2010.
- Seeff LB. Herbal hepatoxicity. Clinics in Living Disease. 2007;11:577.
- Liver wellness. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/downloads/alf_download_29.pdf. Accessed Jan. 19, 2010.
- Wolf AD, et al. Hepatomegaly in neonates and children. Pediatrics in Review. 2000;21:303.
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