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Bile is a major
excretory pathway for waste substances including cholesterol. If
biliary excretion fails, cholestasis ensues (jaundice, pruritus). If
the cholesterol metabolism is dysregulated, bile becomes supersaturated
with cholesterol and gallstone formation ensues.
Cholestatic liver diseases are due to autoimmune diseases, drugs,
tumors in the pancreas or the biliary tree, gallstones or certain
inborn errors of metabolism. Signs and consequences of cholestasis
include:
- Pruritus (itching) and jaundice
- Deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D,
E, K)
- Steatorrhea (fatty stools: you see fat eyes
swimming in the toilet water)
- Propensity for infections
- Renal (kidney) failure
- When left untreated, cholestatic liver disease
can result in portal hypertension and liver failure
Gallstone disease is frequent, affecting women about twice as
frequently as men and it increases with age:
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Stiftung
für
Leberkrankheiten
Institut für Klinische Pharmakologie
Universität Bern
Murtenstrasse 35,
Postfach 49
3010 Bern
0041 (0)31 632 31 91
Info@leberstiftung.ch |
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