"Ask the Doctor": Liver Disease

April 18, 2000

The Houston Chronicle presents, "Ask the Doctor" featuring Dr. Woods who discusses health issues including liver disease, transplants, hepatitis, alcohol related diseases, organ donation, and cancer.

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HoustonChronicle: Welcome to Ask the Doctor! The purpose of the Ask The Doctor chats is to provide general information and is in no way intended to be construed as medical advice for any visitors' specific disease or condition. The intent is to increase a participant's knowledge about a general disease or condition. For treatment of your specific condition please see your personal physician. This forum is not intended to be used in emergency situations. If you are uncertain of the urgency of your problem or condition, contact your personal physician or the nearest hospital for assistance. HoustonChronicle.com, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital-Houston and the Talk City Network are proud to present our special guests for today, the doctors of the Texas Liver Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. Welcome Dr. Woods!

Dr Woods: Glad to be here!

Daiseygurly: I understand there are several different types of hepatitis. Can you briefly talk about them?

Dr Woods: Hepatitis as a term refers to any process that injures the liver. One can get hepatitis from infections, from toxicities in certain foods, from reactions to certain medications, and from a variety of other sources. Most times when someone asks this question, they are primarily thinking about those types of hepatitis that are caused by viruses. The three most common types of viral hepatitis are Hepatitis A, B and C. Briefly, Hepatitis A is an infection that is transmitted from one person to the other by food or other things that are contaminated with fecal material. This is the type of hepatitis that you read about occurring in daycare centers, or from contaminated shellfish. Hepatitis A infection is rarely fatal. It usually results in a relatively severe, but brief illness, and most patients recover fully from the infection and are then immune to further infections from Hepatitis A. However in the very old or the very young, Hepatitis A can be fatal. The other two forms, Hepatitis B and C, are also caused by viruses, but are transmitted in a manner similar to AIDS. This is usually from contaminated blood or blood products, sharing needles among IV drug users, sexual transmission, or other activities such as body piercing, intranasal cocaine, or any activity that would share blood and body fluids. Hepatitis B usually results in a fairly significant illness with about 80 percent of patients recovering from the infection and becoming immune. 5 percent or so may develop acute liver failure, and require a liver transplant. About 10-15 percent of patients infected with the Hepatitis B virus will go on to develop chronic liver disease, and may require a liver transplant after many years. Hepatitis C usually results in a relatively mild illness, with few patients developing acute liver failure. Unfortunately, however, a majority of patients who have an acute infection of Hepatitis C will go on to be chronic carriers, and will develop cirrhosis of the liver and require a liver transplant.

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