There are five types of hepatitis viruses which cause inflammation of the liver. These viruses are designated as hepatitis A, B, C, D or E, with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) being the more common cause of viral hepatitis. A person may be infected by these viruses through various methods of transmission. This almost always >> Read More ...
The hepatitis A virus or HAV is one of the five types of hepatitis viruses that infects the liver and causes inflammation. It is a highly infectious virus belonging to the picornavirus group of enteroviruses. Although hepatitis A is seen as the one of the least dangerous of the hepatitis viruses, it should not be ignored >> Read More ...
There are several types and sub-types of hepatitis (liver inflammation) which are usually classified according to the cause of the disease. This can be broadly divided into : Infectious hepatitis, which is inflammation of the liver due to an infection. This may also include certain systemic infections, some of which are >> Read More ...
What is Hepatitis? Hepatitis is the term for inflammation of the liver. It is a broad term that encompasses a number of inflammatory conditions caused by a variety of factors. These are either infectious or non-infectious. Leading among the infectious causes of hepatitis are viral infections (viral hepatitis). Other >> Read More ...
What is cholangitis? Cholangitis is the medical term for inflammation of the bile ducts. The most common cause is a bacterial infection which arises as a result of pathology within the bile ducts, usually a bile duct blockage. The bile ducts carry bile from the liver and gallbladder into the duodenum. It is also joined by >> Read More ...
What is Cholecystitis? Cholecystitis is the medical term for inflammation of the gallbladder, the small sac that lies under the liver and stores bile. It may be acute or chronic. The most common cause of cholecystitis is due to gallstones obstructing the neck of the gallbladder or cystic duct. This is known as calculous >> Read More ...
What is the gallbladder? The gallbladder is a long sac that stores bile produced by the liver. Sitting under the liver, the gallbladder controls the expulsion of bile into the duodenum plays an important role in the digestion of fats. It is not an essential organ and is often removed by a surgical procedure known as a >> Read More ...
What are Gallstones? A gallstone is a small pebble that develops in the gallbladder often as a result of sediment from the bile. The medical term for a gallstone is a cholelith and the process of gallstone formation and the presence of gallstones in the gallbladder is known as cholelithiasis. There are some less common >> Read More ...
The bile ducts are a series of tubes that drain bile from the liver and either direct it to the gallbladder for temporary storage or pass it into the duodenum where it can be expelled with the feces. The biliary tree as it is known has many different parts, all of which serve the same function, and are prone to a number of >> Read More ...
The term liver pain is often used to describe right upper quadrant pain or more specifically pain in the right hypochondrium of the abdomen. The are many causes of pain in this region but is often attributed to the liver since it occupies most of the space within this >> Read More ...