Week 13 - GI and liver Flashcards
Describe the duct system of the liver and gallbladder which leads to the duodenum.
You have the left and the right hepatic ducts coming from the liver to form the common hepatic duct which joins with the cystic duct from the gallbladder to form the common bile duct which joins with the pancreatic duct and enter the duodenum through the ampulla of vater.
What are gall stones typically made of? How are gallstones usually diagnosed?
Cholesterol, bile pigment or mixed.
Ultrasound.
How does bile become lithogenic for cholesterol?
How does bile become lithogenic for bilirubin?
- If there is excessive secretion of cholesterol or decreased secretion of bile salts.
- If there is excessive secretion of bilirubin i.e. haemolytic anaemia.
What is acute cholecystitis? What are the clinical features of acute cholecystitis? What are the potential complications?
Acute gallbladder inflammation usually due to gallstones in the cystic duct which causes supersaturation of bile and chemical irritation.
Severe right upper quadrant pain, tenderness and fever and leucocytosis normal serum amylase.
Empyema, gangrene and rupture.
What are the main causes of acute pancreatitis?
Secondary to gallstones.
Secondary to alcohol.
Post ERCP, hypercalcaemia, drugs (azothioprine), mumps.
How does acute pancreatitis present?
Severe upper abdominal pain, fever, leucocytosis, raised serum amylase.
What are the potential complications of acute pancreatitis?
Fat necrosis, haemorrhage, pancreatic abscess, pseudocyst, chronic pancreatitis.
What is the most common subtype of pancreatic carcinoma? What is survival rate 1 year after diagnosis?
Ductal adenocarcinoma.
1 in 8
What are the risk factors for pancreatic cancer?
Germline mutations (e.g. BRCA) accounts for small proportion of patients.
SMOKING is the biggest risk factor.
Alcohol.
What are the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer?
Painless obstructive jaundice.
New onset diabetes.
Abdominal pain due to pancreatic insufficiency or nerve invasion.
What are the treatment options of pancreatic carcinoma?
Whipple’s resection - only for some tumours of the head of the pancreas.
- (Neo)adjuvant therapy - folfirinox
What is the blood supply and drainage of the liver?
Supply - hepatic artery and portal vein
Drainage - hepatic veins.
List the broad causes of injury to the liver.
Drugs/toxins i.e. alcohol Abnormal nutrition or metabolism Infection Obstruction to bile or blood flow Autoimmune liver disease Genetic/deposition syndrome Neoplasia
What is cirrhosis and what is its three stage definition?
Cirrhosis = end stage liver disease.
- Diffuse process with
- Fibrosis
- Nodule formation
What common investigations are done in diagosing liver disease?
Blood tests: LFTs, haematol, viral and autoimmune serology, metabolic tests.
Radiology: usually at least ultrasound.
What are some of the common histological patterns of acute liver disease?
- acute hepatitis
- acute cholestasis/cholestatic hepatitis
- fatty liver disease
- chronic hepatitis
- chronic biliary disease
- hepatic vascular disease
- genetic/deposition disease
What is the histological appearance of acute hepatitis?
Diffuse hepatocyte injury and swelling. Spotty necrosis, inflammatory cell infiltrate.
What are the causes and the histological appearance of cholestatic hepatitis?
Causes:
- extrahepatic biliary obstruction
- drug injury e.g. antibiotics
Histology: brown bile (bilirubin) pigment +/- acute hepatitis.
What does hepatitis B histology look like?
Acute hepatitis plus fibrosis. Ground glass cytoplasm in hepatocytes.
What are the causes and histology of chronic biliary cholestatic disease?
Causes - primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Histology - focal, portal predominant inflammation and fibrosis with bile duct injury, granulomas in PBC
What is the most common type of liver cyst?
Von Meyenberg complex
What is the pathophysiology behind primary biliary cirrhosis?
Autoimmune disease with serum anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) and high IgM.
What are some signs of chronic liver disease and portal hypertension?
Chronic liver disease: spider naevi, foeter hepaticus, encephalopathy, synthetic dysfunction: prolonged PT, hypoalbuminaemia.
Portal hypertension: caput medusa, hypersplenism, thrombocytopenia.
How is ascites managed?
Low salt diet Spironolactone Furosemide Paracentesis Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt Liver transplant Aim for weight loss 0.5-1 kg/day
What scoring system is used to assess encephalopathy? How is it treated?
Conn score
Non-absorbable disaccharides (i.e. lactulose) - get bowels moving
Non (minimally)-absorbable antibiotics - gut decontamination
What are some of the symptoms of hepatitis?
Malaise, fever, headaches, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, RUQ pain, dark urine, jaundice.
What lab results would you expect to see in hepatitis?
Raised ALT/AST/bilirubin, clotting derangement
How long does the hepatitis virus need to be present for it to be classed as chronic hepatitis? Is chronic hepatitis usually symptomatic or asymptomatic?
6 months
Asymptomatic
What are some of the other infectious causes of acute hepatitis apart from Hepatitis A-E?
EBV, CMV, Toxo Leptospirosis Q fever Syphilis Malaria Viral haemorrhagic fevers
How is viral hepatitis diagnosed in the laboratory?
Detection of specific immune responses (IgM or IgG)
Viral nucleic acid detection (RNA or DNA), or antigen detection (HBV, HCV) using PCR.