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For alveolar echinococcosis, surgical removal of cysts combined with chemotherapy (using albendazole and/or mebendazole) for up to two years after surgery is the only sure way to completely cure the disease. However, in inoperable cases, chemotherapy by itself can also be used. In treatment using just chemotherapy, one could use either mebendazole in three doses or albendazole in two doses. Since chemotherapy on its own is not guaranteed to completely rid the patient of disease, patients are often kept on the drugs for extended periods of times (i.e. more than 6 months, years). In addition to surgery and chemotherapy, liver transplants are being looked into as a form of treatment for alveolar echinococcosis although it is seen as incredibly risky since it often leads to echinococcosis re-infection in the patient afterwards.
For simple cases of cystic echinococcosis, the most common form of treatment is open surgical removal of the cysts combined with chemotherapy using albendazole and/or mebendazole before and after surgery. However, if there are cysts in multiple organs or tissues, or the cysts are in risky locations, surgery becomes impractical. For inoperable cases such as these, chemotherapy and/or PAIR (puncture-aspiration-injection-reaspiration) become alternative options of treatment. In the case of alternative treatment using just chemotherapy, albendazole is preferred twice a day for 1–5 months. An alternative to albendazole is mebendazole for at least 3 to 6 months. The other alternative to surgery is PAIR with chemotherapy. PAIR is a minimally invasive procedure that involves three steps: puncture and needle aspiration of the cyst, injection of a scolicidal solution for 20–30 min, and cyst-re-aspiration and final irrigation. Patients who undergo PAIR typically take albendazole or mebendazole from 7 days before the procedure until 28 days after the procedure. While open surgery still remains as the standard for cystic echinococcosis treatment, there have been a number of studies that suggest that PAIR with chemotherapy is more effective than surgery in terms of disease recurrence, and morbidity and mortality. In addition to the three above mentioned treatments, there is currently research and studies looking at new treatment involving percutaneous thermal ablation (PTA) of the germinal layer in the cyst by means of a radiofrequency ablation device. This form of treatment is still relatively new and requires much more testing before being widely used. An alternative to open surgery is laparoscopic surgery, which provides excellent cure rates with minimal morbidity and mortality.
Tapeworms are treated with medications taken by mouth, usually in a single dose. The drug of choice for tapeworm infections is praziquantel. Niclosamide can also be used.
Broad-spectrum benzimidazoles (such as albendazole and mebendazole) are the first line treatment of intestinal roundworm and tapeworm infections. Macrocyclic lactones (such as ivermectin) are effective against adult and migrating larval stages of nematodes. Praziquantel is the drug of choice for schistosomiasis, taeniasis, and most types of food-borne trematodiases. Oxamniquine is also widely used in mass deworming programmes. Pyrantel is commonly used for veterinary nematodiasis. Artemisinins and derivatives are proving to be candidates as drugs of choice for trematodiasis.
If complications of helminthiasis, such as intestinal obstruction occur, emergency surgery may be required. Patients who require non-emergency surgery, for instance for removal of worms from the biliary tree, can be pre-treated with the anthelmintic drug albendazole.
The treatment depends on clinical features and the location of the biliary abnormality. When the disease is localized to one hepatic lobe, hepatectomy relieves symptoms and appears to remove the risk of malignancy. Good evidence suggests that malignancy complicates Caroli disease in roughly 7% of cases.
Antibiotics are used to treat the inflammation of the bile duct, and ursodeoxycholic acid is used for hepatolithiasis. Ursodiol is given to treat cholelithiasis. In diffuse cases of Caroli disease, treatment options include conservative or endoscopic therapy, internal biliary bypass procedures, and liver transplantation in carefully selected cases. Surgical resection has been used successfully in patients with monolobar disease. An orthotopic liver transplant is another option, used only when antibiotics have no effect, in combination with recurring cholangitis. With a liver transplant, cholangiocarcinoma is usually avoided in the long run.
Family studies are necessary to determine if Caroli disease is due to inheritable causes. Regular follow-ups, including ultrasounds and liver biopsies, are performed.
Extrahepatic cholestasis can usually be treated by surgery.
Pruritis in cholestatic jaundice is treated by Antihistamines, Ursodeoxycholic Acid, Phenobarbital
Most occurrences are found in areas that lack adequate sanitation and include Southeast Asia, West Africa, and East Africa.
If complications cannot be controlled or when the liver ceases functioning, liver transplantation is necessary. Survival from liver transplantation has been improving over the 1990s, and the five-year survival rate is now around 80%. The survival rate depends largely on the severity of disease and other medical risk factors in the recipient. In the United States, the MELD score is used to prioritize patients for transplantation. Transplantation necessitates the use of immune suppressants (ciclosporin or tacrolimus).
Generally, liver damage from cirrhosis cannot be reversed, but treatment can stop or delay further progression and reduce complications. A healthy diet is encouraged, as cirrhosis may be an energy-consuming process. Close follow-up is often necessary. Antibiotics are prescribed for infections, and various medications can help with itching. Laxatives, such as lactulose, decrease the risk of constipation; their role in preventing encephalopathy is limited.
Alcoholic cirrhosis caused by alcohol abuse is treated by abstaining from alcohol. Treatment for hepatitis-related cirrhosis involves medications used to treat the different types of hepatitis, such as interferon for viral hepatitis and corticosteroids for autoimmune hepatitis. Cirrhosis caused by Wilson's disease, in which copper builds up in organs, is treated with chelation therapy (for example, penicillamine) to remove the copper.
Anti-viral medications are available to treat infections such as hepatitis B. Other conditions may be managed by slowing down disease progression, for example:
- By using steroid-based drugs in autoimmune hepatitis.
- Regularly removing a quantity of blood from a vein (venesection) in the iron overload condition, hemochromatosis.
- Wilson’s disease, a condition where copper builds up in the body, can be managed with drugs which bind copper allowing it to be passed from your body in urine.
- In cholestatic liver disease, (where the flow of bile is affected due to cystic fibrosis) a medication called ursodeoxycholic acid (URSO, also referred to as UDCA) may be given.
Alveolar hydatid disease (AHD), also known as alveolar echinococcosis, alveolar colloid of the liver, alveolococcosis, multilocular echinococcosis, and small fox tapeworm is a form of echinococcosis, and is a disease that originates from a parasite. Although alveolar echinococcosis is rarely diagnosed in humans and is not as widespread as cystic echinococcosis, it is also still a serious disease that not only has a significantly high fatality rate but also has the potential to become an emerging disease in many countries.
Treatment generally includes supportive care including pain management and possibly diuretics. In the those severe disease due to a bone marrow transplant, defibrotide is a proposed treatment. It has been approved for use in severe cases in Europe and the United States. A placebo controlled trial, however, has not been done as of 2016.
Untreated, the disease has a mortality rate upwards of 90%. Cats treated in the early stages can have a recovery rate of 80–90%. Left untreated, the cats usually die from severe malnutrition or complications from liver failure. Treatment usually involves aggressive feeding through one of several methods.
Cats can have a feeding tube inserted by a veterinarian so that the owner can feed the cat a liquid diet several times a day. They can also be force-fed through the mouth with a syringe. If the cat stops vomiting and regains its appetite, it can be fed in a food dish normally. The key is aggressive feeding so the body stops converting fat in the liver. The cat liver has a high regeneration rate and the disease will eventually reverse assuming that irreparable damage has not been done to the liver.
The best method to combat feline hepatic lipidosis is prevention and early detection. Obesity increases the chances of onset. In addition, if a cat stops eating for 1–2 days, it should be taken to a vet immediately. The longer the disease goes untreated, the higher the mortality rate.
Treatment is directed largely to removing the cause, or, where that is impossible, to modifying its effects. Thus, therapy aimed at improving right heart function will also improve congestive hepatopathy. True nutmeg liver is usually secondary to left-sided heart failure causing congestive right heart failure, so treatment options are limited.
Surgical treatment is best, when it can be performed. Pressure within the portal vein is measured as the shunt is closed, and it must be kept below 20 cm HO or else portal hypertension will ensue. Methods of shunt attenuation should aim to slowly occlude the vessel over several weeks to months in order to avoid complications associated with portal hypertension. These methods include ameroid ring constrictors, cellophane banding, intravascular or percutaneous silicone hydraulic occluders. The most common methods of attenuation used by veterinarians are ameroid ring constrictors and cellophane banding. Both methods have reportedly good outcomes in both cats and dogs, although the true composition of readily sourced cellophane has been found to be made from plastics (inert) and not cellulose (stimulates a fibrous reaction). Recently, a commercial supplier of regenerated cellulose based cellophane for veterinarians has been established for use of cellophane banding for portosystemic shunts in dogs and cats. Complete closure of extrahepatic shunts results in a very low recurrence rate, while incomplete closure results in a recurrence rate of about 50 percent. However, not all dogs with extrahepatic shunts tolerate complete closure (16 to 68 percent). Intrahepatic shunts are much more difficult to surgically correct than extrahepatic shunts due to their hidden nature, large vessel size, and greater tendency toward portal hypertension when completely closed. When surgery is not an option, PSS is treated as are other forms of liver failure. Dietary protein restriction is helpful to lessen signs of hepatic encephalopathy, and antibiotics such as neomycin or metronidazole and other medicines such as lactulose can reduce ammonia production and absorption in the intestines. The prognosis is guarded for any form of PSS.
There is currently no specific therapy. Intravenous fluids and treatment of the hepatic encephalopathy may help. Increasing dietary levels of branched chain amino acids and feeding low protein diets can help signs of hepatic encephalopathy, which is often accomplished by feeding small amounts of grain and/or beet pulp, and removing high-protein feedstuffs such as alfalfa hay. Grazing on non-legume grass may be acceptable if it is late summer or fall, although the horse should only be permitted to eat in the evening so as to avoid photosensitization. Due to the risk of gastric impaction, stomach size should be monitored.
Sedation is minimized and used only to control behavior that could lead to injury of the animal and to allow therapeutic procedures, and should preferably involve a sedative other than a benzodiazepine. Stressing the animal should be avoided if at all possible. Plasma transfusions may be needed if spontaneous bleeding occurs, to replace clotting factors. Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed to prevent bacterial translocation from the intestines. Antioxidants such as vitamin E, B-complex vitamins, and acetylcysteine may be given. High blood ammonia is often treated with oral neomycin, often in conjunction with lactulose, metronidazole and probiotics, to decrease production and absorption of ammonia from the gastrointestinal tract.
A 2006 Cochrane review did not find evidence sufficient for the use of androgenic anabolic steroids. Corticosteroids are sometimes used; however, this is recommended only when severe liver inflammation is present.
Sylimarin has been investigated as a possible treatment, with ambiguous results. One review claimed benefit for S-adenosyl methionine in disease models.
The effects of anti–tumor necrosis factor medications such as infliximab and etanercept are unclear and possibly harmful. Evidence is unclear for pentoxifylline. Propylthiouracil may result in harm.
Evidence does not support supplemental nutrition in liver disease.
Treatment of hepatomegaly will vary depending on the cause of the liver enlargement and hence accurate diagnosis is the primary concern. In the case of auto-immune liver disease, prednisone and azathioprine may be used for treatment.
In the case of lymphoma the treatment options include single-agent (or multi-agent) chemotherapy and regional radiotherapy, also surgery may be an option in specific situations.Meningococcal group C conjugate vaccine are also used in some cases.
In primary biliary cirrhosis ursodeoxycholic acid helps the bloodstream remove bile which may increase survival in some affected individuals.
Impaired liver synthesis of clotting factors, low-grade fibrinolysis, and intravascular coagulation are typical of ALF. Thrombocytopenia is common and may also be dysfunctional. Replacement therapy is recommended only in the setting of bleeding or prior to an invasive procedure. Vitamin K can be given to treat an abnormal prothrombin time, regardless of whether there is poor nutritional status. Administration of recombinant factor VIIa has shown promise; however, this treatment approach requires further study. The use of gastrointestinal hemorrhage prophylaxis with a histamine-2 (H2) blocker, proton pump inhibitor, or sucralfate is recommended.
Capillariasis is a disease caused by nematodes in the "Capillaria" genus. The two principal forms of the disease are:
- Intestinal capillariasis, caused by "Capillaria philippinensis"
- Hepatic capillariasis, caused by "Capillaria hepatica"
Not drinking further alcohol is the most important part of treatment. People with chronic HCV infection should abstain from any alcohol intake, due to the risk for rapid acceleration of liver disease.
Patients with grade I–II encephalopathy should be transferred to a liver transplant facility and listed for transplantation. Consider a brain computed tomography (CT) scan to rule out other causes of altered or impaired mental status. Stimulation and overhydration can cause elevations in intracranial pressure (ICP) and should be avoided. Unmanageable agitation may be treated with short-acting benzodiazepines in small doses. Lactulose can be considered at this stage. A preliminary report from the ALFSG on 117 patients suggests that use of lactulose in the first 7 days after diagnosis is associated with a small increase in survival time, but with no difference in severity of encephalopathy or in the overall outcome. For patients who progress to grade III–IV encephalopathy, intubation for airway protection is generally required. Many centers use propofol for sedation because it may reduce cerebral blood. The head of the bed should be elevated to 30 degrees, and electrolytes, blood gasses, glucose, and neurologic status monitored frequently.
The following therapeutic drugs were withdrawn from the market primarily because of hepatotoxicity: Troglitazone, bromfenac, trovafloxacin, ebrotidine, nimesulide, nefazodone, ximelagatran and pemoline.
"Acute on chronic liver failure" is said to exist when someone with chronic liver disease develops features of liver failure. A number of underlying causes may precipitate this, such as alcohol misuse or infection. People with ACLF can be critically ill and require intensive care treatment, and occasionally a liver transplant. Mortality with treatment is 50%.