Introduction
Fatty liver, cirrhosis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency are all disorders that result from an injury to the liver. Injury can be caused by toxins, including alcohol, some drugs, impurities in foods, and the abnormal buildup of normal substances in the blood. Injury to the liver can also be caused by infection or by a disease in which the body attacks its own tissues (an autoimmune reaction (see Section 16, Chapter 186)). Sometimes the exact cause of the injury is not known.
|
