Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about alcohol-related liver disease.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero-to-finals.com slash a-L-D

or in the gastroenterology section of the zero to finals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Alcohol use damages various organs in the body and it can lead to alcohol dependence syndrome.

Here we're going to cover alcohol-related liver disease, alcohol dependence, alcohol withdrawal,

and Vernike Korsakov syndrome. Alcohol-related liver disease results from long-term excessive

consumption of alcohol. The onset and progression of alcohol-related liver disease varies between different people,

suggesting there may be a genetic predisposition to having the harmful effects of alcohol on the liver.

The risk of damage to the liver from alcohol increases with obesity and viral hepatitis.

Let's talk about the stages.

There is a stepwise progression through the stages of alcohol-related liver disease.

Stage one is alcoholic fatty liver, also called hepatic stetosis.

And this is where drinking leads to a build-up of fat in the liver.

This process is reversible with abstinence or stopping drinking alcohol.

Stage two is alcoholic hepatitis.

And this is where drinking alcohol over a long period causes inflammation in the

liver cells. Binge drinking is associated with the same effect. Mild alcoholic hepatitis is

usually reversible with permanent abstinence from alcohol. And stage three is cirrhosis,

and this is where the functional liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue,

and this is irreversible.

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