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Glossary
All skilled workers accumulate their own vocabulary that is often difficult to understand for outsiders. This is particularly true of the medical profession. In the present web site whilst trying to avoid the use of specialised words as far as possible those words or phrases which are likely to cause trouble to a lay reader have been underlined in the text and a definition appears in the glossary in alphabetic order of the first word. These days anyone with access to a computer can readily find a definition by simply entering the word you are interested in into a 'search' engine such as is offered by, for example, GOOGLE.
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A chronic disease of the liver involving the replacement of normal tissue with fibrous tissue and the loss of functional liver cells. It can result from among other causes, alcohol abuse, nutritional deprivation, or infection especially by one of the hepatitis viruses.
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This word is an adjective commonly relating to something depending on the function of genes. Genes are discrete units that carry highly specific information which appropriately applied is what makes living things work. Perhaps the nearest analogy in common use is that of a computer. Each computer has a hard disc within which can be installed many soft ware programs proper deployment of which enables the computer to provide its owners with many options for use. Each living human cell has a structure within which the genes are housed that is to all intents a mimic of a hard drive. Each cell in addition has a particular set of genes active which can be thought of as evocation of a soft ware program. Liver cells have a particular pattern of genes active and different kinds of cell in the liver have different patterns of gene activity. Genes sometimes change by a process that is called mutation and, when they do, in some instances tumours arise from cells that carry the changed genes.
The genetic concept is not simple to grasp immediately but if one concentrates on the fact that genetic information is required to make things work in living organisms it is not too difficult to realise that if the genetic apparatus goes wrong there may be trouble. Genes are made of a complex set of chemical entities called DNA.
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Inflammation of the liver, caused by infectious or toxic agents usually leading to jaundice, fever, liver enlargement, and abdominal pain.
At least five different viruses, HEPA, HEPB,HEPC, HEPD and HEPE can infect liver cells and there cause inflammation . Infection with some of the viruses, HEPA and HEPD and HEPE is usually followed quickly by symptoms that can be recognized leading to rapid diagnosis. HEPB and HEPC often infect asymptomatically in the first instance. Our prime interest here is HEPC that infects at least three hundred million people world wide, the majority of whom probably do not know they are infected. In common with the other viruses, except HEPE, HEPC virus infections very often are long lasting and termed chronic. A substantial proportion of those infected with HEPC after any time between ten and forty years later develop cirrhosis of the liver and/or tumours of the liver. HEPC infections in nearly all instances are associated with people sharing needles and/or poor medical practice during the course of which infected blood is transferred by accident from one patient to another.
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In common with most other organs in the body, tumours can arise from the constituent cells of the liver. In addition, and more commonly, cancers found in the liver were started in other organs of the body, often the colon.
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Pegylated interferon is a man-made form of interferon, a chemical naturally produced in the body to fight viruses. Interferon helps to stop the hepatitis C virus (HCV) from making new copies of itself. It also helps the immune system to kill HCV. Pegylated interferon is made with special add-on parts that help the drug stay in the body longer. It is injected once a week, while interferon that is not pegylated needs to be injected three times a week.
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