Cirrhosis develops when alcohol or hepatitis B or C damages the liver, triggering scar tissue buildup. The organ tries to heal by forming regenerative nodules, but persistent fibrosis compresses the portal vein, cutting off blood flow and worsening liver function.
So when you think about cirrhosis, the first thing you should think about is liver damage. This is when there is damage to the liver. Now this can be caused by things like alcohol use, hepatitis B or C infections. Those are some pretty common causes of cirrhosis. Now when that happens, this scar tissue is going to form throughout the liver. The hepatocytes are going to become damaged and that scar tissue forms, which decreases the liver's ability to function. So when that scar tissue happens, the liver is obviously not able to function as well as it should be able to. Then what's going to happen? The liver is going to try to help itself to heal and that's when we get these regenerative nodules. So that is when these new clusters of cells are formed to try to heal the liver. And then that scar tissue is still laced throughout, but now we have more compression on the hepatic portal vein so it's being squeezed, which is going to decrease blood flow.
