What are the complications of liver failure?
When liver disease progresses to end-stage, many different things can start to go wrong. In children, growth may cease. In children and adults, fluid may accumulate in the abdomen (“ascites”). Ascites can cause difficulty breathing and it can become spontaneously infected. Thinking may become impaired (“encephalopathy”). Encephalopathy begins as slight disorientation, progresses to drowsiness and can reach complete unresponsiveness (coma). Bleeding from the intestinal tract can occur because of “portal hypertension”. In early liver disease each of these problems is often controllable with medications. As the disease progresses the medications no longer help and a liver transplant may be necessary.
