The liver is the largest organ of our body and a vital element that functions as the center of most biochemical events (more than 400 tasks) that operate in the body. Throughout history, the liver has been favored over other organs by philosophers, poets, scientists, clergy, writers and physicians. Since ancient times, the liver has been regarded as a miraculous organ, where life resides, where the human soul resides, where emotions such as excitement, lust, anger and love are stored, and the center of intelligence. The ancient Egyptians believed that people needed some vital organs in their afterlife, and they carefully removed these important organs before embalming and then stored them in special containers inside the tomb. These indispensable organs of the two lives consisted of the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines. In history, Tityus was punished by Zeus for harassing the goddess Leto, on the other hand, Prometheus for stealing fire from Olympus for humans, and they were tied to the rocks and punished by the vulture's constant devouring of both their livers. However, the liver constantly renews itself and this punishment lasts until Hercules saves Prometheus. This mythological story highlights the regenerative power of the liver.
Cirrhosis is a chronic progressive liver disease in which normal liver cells are destroyed and replaced by connective tissue as a progressive result of chronic liver diseases of various causes. The term cirrhosis was first used by Laennec in 1826 to describe the waxy appearance of the liver at autopsy, taken from the Greek word “kirrhos” meaning “scorched-brown”. Liver cirrhosis is known as the end stage of many chronic liver diseases. A significant portion of liver cancers develop on the basis of liver cirrhosis and are one of the important causes of death. In cirrhosis, other than liver cancer, vital problems such as encephalopathy, acid infections in the abdomen, esophageal varices and bleeding develop.
In cirrhosis, which is an important cause of disease and death in the whole world, the most common factor in our country is chronic hepatitis B virus infection. In a study in which we examined cirrhosis cases in the southeast region, 505 patients were evaluated. In the same study, the causal distribution was similar to Turkey in general. It was determined that the active hepatitis B virus was 72.9%. Other causes of cirrhosis include other hepatitis viruses (hepatitis C), alcohol, fatty liver disease, chronic biliary tract diseases, autoimmune liver diseases, metabolic diseases (Wilson's disease, hemachromatosis) and some drugs.
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