What causes cirrhosis?

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What causes cirrhosis?

The most common causes of cirrhosis of the liver are:

  • Alcohol abuse (alcohol-related liver disease caused by long-term [chronic] use of alcohol).
  • Chronic viral infections of the liver (hepatitis B and hepatitis C).
  • Fatty liver associated with obesity and diabetes and not alcohol. This condition is called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Anything that damages the liver can lead to cirrhosis. Other causes include:

  • Inherited diseases:
    • Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (build-up of an abnormal protein in the liver)
    • Hemochromatosis (excess iron stored in the liver).
    • Wilson disease (excess copper stored in the liver).
    • Cystic fibrosis (sticky, thick mucus builds up in the liver).
    • Glycogen storage diseases (liver can’t store or break down glycogen, a form of sugar).
    • Alagille syndrome (born with fewer than normal number of bile ducts; affects bile flow and causes jaundice).
  • Autoimmune hepatitis (your body’s own immune system attacks healthy liver tissue causing damage).
  • Diseases that damage or block bile ducts in the liver (tubes that carry bile from the liver to other parts of digestive system; bile helps digest fats):
    • Primary biliary cholangitis (bile ducts become injured, then inflamed, then permanently damaged).
    • Primary sclerosing cholangitis (inflammation of the bile ducts leads to scarring and narrowing of the ducts and buildup of bile in the liver).
    • Blocked bile duct (can cause infections, backup of products in the liver).
    • Biliary atresia (infants are born with poorly formed or blocked bile ducts, causing damage, scarring, loss of liver tissue and cirrhosis).
  • Chronic heart failure (causes fluid to back up in your liver, swelling in other areas of your body and other symptoms).
  • Rare diseases, such as amyloidosis, in which abnormal deposits in the liver of an abnormal protein called amyloid disrupts normal liver function.

Changes from liver diseases that lead to cirrhosis are gradual. Liver cells are injured and if injury – from whatever cause – continues, liver cells start to die. Over time, scar tissue replaces the damaged liver cells and the liver can’t function properly.

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