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Alcoholic adaptive hepatopathy
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
Alcoholic adaptive hepatopathy (hepatomegaly) is observed in 20% of patients with chronic alcoholism. This form of liver damage is characterized by hyperplasia of the endoplasmic reticulum on the background of a decrease in the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase, an increase in the amount of peroxisomes and the appearance of giant mitochondria. Alcoholic hepatomegaly is a compensatory-adaptive reaction of the liver to increased synthesis of acetaldehyde, the formation of a large number of peroxide compounds, a violation of protein synthesis and the oxidation of fatty acids.
The characteristic clinical features of adaptive alcoholic hepatopathy are:
- absence of subjective manifestations or presence of non-intensive pain in the liver;
- a slight increase in the liver;
- a significant increase in the activity of y-glutamyltranspeptidase in the serum in the absence of changes in functional liver samples.
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