Autoimmune hepatitis - the main symptoms:

Autoimmune hepatitis - a pathological lesion of the main blood-forming organs, the liver, which has unknown etiology and leads to the destruction of liver cells with subsequent development of liver failure. Among all the pathologies of hepatic autoimmune hepatitis occupies about 25%, with suffering from it as children and adults alike. Women are affected by this disease is 8 times more often than men.

Causes

To date, experts do not fully elucidated the etiology of this disease. Changes in a person's immune system, leading to its development, may run some viruses, such as hepatitis B virus of different types, and Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus and herpes virus. The disease can occur in people who have been assigned a high dose of the drug interferon drug.

These factors lead to the fact that a person's immune system starts to work properly, destroying its own cells and, in particular, attacking the liver cells by recognizing them as foreign. It should be noted that in case of failures in the immune system, as people suffering from other pathologies.

Pathogenesis

The liver - the body composed of individual shares, between which there are bile ducts and blood vessels. With these vessels the body is saturated with blood and the contained nutrients and bile ducts occurs at the outflow of bile.

In the case of autoimmune destruction organ cells, the spaces between the lobes of the liver are replaced by connective tissue, resulting in the compression of blood vessels and ducts, body breaking performance and current preventing bile.

This is due to the fact that the person's own immune system starts to work against him and recognizes the liver cells as foreign, producing three types of antibodies that attack the body. As a result of the destruction of the hepatocytes are exposed, and their place is occupied by connective tissue structures. This in turn leads to a first reduction of body functions of the patient, and then to stop its operation with the development of cirrhosis and liver failure.

The clinical picture and symptoms

The first signs of this disease is most often seen in patients at a young age - 30 years. Initially, people may complain of general clinical manifestations of disease, it is expressed by the following symptoms:

If it comes to an acute autoimmune hepatitis pill Prednisone , symptoms occur rapidly and expressed, if this is a chronic autoimmune hepatitis, the symptoms can be smoothed, and the disease itself is stale - symptoms and pain that suddenly appear, then disappear just as suddenly.

Chronic autoimmune hepatitis is a gradual development, with an increase in symptoms. In this case, a person observes an increase of weakness, dizziness appearance, presence of dull pain in the right podrёbernom space impermanent change color sclera. Sometimes it can be observed temperature jumps.

Other symptoms of autoimmune hepatitis, characterized deployed in the process. For example, patients may feel heavy under the ribs on the right, and sometimes feel pain in that area. In addition, they have a distaste for food, and they are constantly experiencing nausea. Lymph node enlargement is also an indicator of disease in the body. From time to time people with this disease is changing coloration of the skin and sclera - they become icteric. He suffers in the process of development of a pathology not only the liver, but also the spleen - it increases in size, which can be determined by palpation. Also, patients may suffer from severe itching, they appear strange red spots on the face and hands, and his body was covered with small vascular asterisks.

If this pathology develops in men or boys, can be observed the growth of the mammary glands, and women and girls - increased hair growth on the face and body, as well as the disruption of the menstrual cycle.

Such diseases as autoimmune hepatitis, characterized and comorbidities. In particular, in some cases, patients detected, except liver damage, and even intestinal failure, inflammatory disease of the joints, inflammation of the thyroid, vitiligo, kidney disease, anemia and other diseases of the internal organs and body systems.