Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of chronic liver injury, characterised by diffuse hepatic fibrosis with regenerative parenchymal nodules that replace the normal lobular architecture and distort vascular and biliary structures. It develops as a final common pathway of sustained hepatocellular damage, the leading cau…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 12 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 15× across the literature 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of chronic liver injury, characterised by diffuse hepatic fibrosis with regenerative parenchymal nodules that replace the normal lobular architecture and distort vascular and biliary structures. It develops as a final common pathway of sustained hepatocellular damage, the leading causes being chronic alcohol use, chronic viral hepatitis B and C, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, and prolonged biliary obstruction. Persistent inflammation activates hepatic stellate cells, which deposit excess collagen and remodel the extracellular matrix, progressively impairing synthetic, metabolic, and detoxifying function. Clinically, cirrhosis is divided into a compensated phase, often asymptomatic, and a decompensated phase marked by jaundice, coagulopathy, and hepatic encephalopathy. The increasing structural resistance to portal blood flow produces portal hypertension, the principal driver of complications including gastro-oesophageal and gastric varices, variceal haemorrhage, ascites, and splenomegaly. Cirrhosis is also the dominant risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma, so surveillance with imaging and serum tumour markers is integral to management. Severity and prognosis are graded using composite clinical and biochemical scoring, while non-invasive assessment of fibrosis and portal pressure, such as transient elastography and acoustic radiation force impulse measurement of liver stiffness, increasingly supplements histology in staging disease and guiding therapeutic decisions.

Research published in this journal

12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 12 articles above have been cited 15 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Liver Cirrhosis, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Alcohol.

Journal editorial board
Mahmoud El-Mas · Kuwait Borna Relja · Germany Waldemar Wardencki · Poland

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.