Liver
Therapy
A gastroenterologist should be a member of the team involved in the care of a childhood cancer survivor with chronic liver disease or hepatitis.
Patients with hepatitis C and chronic active hepatitis may be amenable to anti-viral therapy. This has the potential to eliminate the virus completely.
From Wikipedia:
"Although none of the available drugs can clear the infection, they can stop the virus from replicating and minimizing liver damage. Currently, there are seven medications licensed for treatment of hepatitis B infection in the United States. These include antiviral drugs lamivudine (Epivir), adefovir (Hepsera), tenofovir (Viread), telbivudine (Tyzeka) and entecavir (Baraclude) and the two immune system modulators interferon alpha-2a and PEGylated interferon alpha-2a (Pegasys). The use of interferon, which requires injections daily or thrice weekly, has been supplanted by long-acting PEGylated interferon, which is injected only once weekly. However, some individuals are much more likely to respond than others and this might be because of the genotype of the infecting virus or the patient's heredity. The treatment reduces viral replication in the liver, thereby reducing the viral load (the amount of virus particles as measured in the blood)."
- Once established treatment of hepatic fibrosis is symptomatic
- Patients with cirrhosis may be well and asymptomatic for many years
- Portal hypertension and bleeding from esophageal varices may mean that the onset of liver failure is close.
- Liver transplant is sometimes a life saving option for patients with end stage cirrhosis
