How to treat jaundice hepatitis

Jaundice hepatitis refers to a clinical symptom rather than a specific liver disease. Acute icteric hepatitis is a relatively common type of icteric hepatitis. It has an acute onset and obvious stages. It can be divided into three stages according to clinical manifestations. The patient's skin and sclera are often light yellow to golden in color and are accompanied by itching. Some patients may experience mild splenomegaly, abdominal distension, nausea and elevated transaminase levels.

1. What is icteric hepatitis?

Hepatitis caused by various causes, accompanied by yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes and serum bilirubin exceeding 17.1 μmol/L is called icteric hepatitis. Icteric hepatitis is defined based on the presence or absence of jaundice and elevated serum bilirubin levels, as opposed to anicteric hepatitis. Icteric hepatitis is a clinical symptom diagnosis rather than an etiological diagnosis.

2. Causes

Various causes of hepatitis can be diagnosed as icteric hepatitis due to the simultaneous occurrence of jaundice. Common causes include the following: infection with hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D, and E), infection with other hepatotropic viruses (Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, etc.), damage from chemical poisons (such as carbon tetrachloride), alcohol damage, drug damage (remifen, rifampicin, lipid-lowering drugs), autoimmune damage, influence of genetic metabolic diseases, abnormal lipid metabolism (fatty liver), etc. These causes can lead to diffuse damage to liver cells and hepatitis, and jaundice occurs at the same time, which is clinically diagnosed as icteric hepatitis.

3. Clinical manifestations

1. Clinical manifestations of hepatitis

Fatigue, aversion to greasy food, nausea, etc. that appear in the recent period and last for several days. In severe cases, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, obvious vomiting, etc. may occur, and even grade II or above hepatic encephalopathy may develop rapidly. Physical signs include hepatomegaly with tenderness and percussion pain in the liver area, and some patients may have mild splenomegaly. Blood tests may show signs of decreased liver function, such as elevated transaminases.

2. jaundice

The skin and sclera are light yellow to golden yellow, and the skin may be itchy. A blood test will show elevated bilirubin.

Acute icteric hepatitis is relatively common in clinical practice. According to the clinical manifestations, its course of disease can be divided into three stages. The stages are quite obvious and the total course of disease is about 4 months.

Treatment

1. General treatment

Rest, diet and nutrition.

2. Targeted treatment

(1) Choleretic drugs: Western medicine, Chinese medicine, etc.

(2) Liver protection drugs are mainly liver cell membrane stabilizers that have the effect of lowering transaminase. There are many such drugs to choose from.

(3) Supportive symptomatic treatment mainly includes drugs to improve symptoms such as poor appetite, abdominal distension, and nausea.

3. Antiviral treatment

Acute viral hepatitis generally does not require antiviral treatment. Chronic viral hepatitis requires antiviral treatment targeted at the virus.

4. Prevention

For viral hepatitis, it is necessary to manage the source of infection, cut off the transmission route and protect susceptible groups.