Fibrosis vs Cirrhosis

  Can you explain the difference between fibrosis without necrosis and cirrhosis? Thank you.
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Dear Chloe,
There is a spectrum of liver injury seen.  Necrosis indicates that liver cells ahve been damaged and died.  If there is substantial damage one may see scar tissue forming to rplace the dead liver cells.  The term for this finding is fibrosis.  If ther eis really a lot of liver damage, these scars may alter the structure of the liver forming nodules.  This severe form of fibrosis is called cirrhosis.  It is often difficult to tell by clinical parameters how much fibrosis exists in a liver.
This information is presented for educational purposes only.
HFHSM.D.-rf
*keywords: liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis
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