What is primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)?
PSC is a disease that damages and blocks bile ducts inside and outside the liver. Bile is a liquid made in the liver. Bile ducts are tubes that carry bile out of the liver...
What are gallstones?
Gallstones are small, pebble-like substances that develop in the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped sac located below your liver in the right upper abdomen. Gallstones form when liquid stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces...
What Is Cancer of the Pancreas?
The Normal Pancreas
The pancreas is an organ located behind the stomach. It is shaped a little bit like a fish with a wide head, a tapering body, and a narrow-pointed tail. It is about...
What is pancreatitis?
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and close to the duodenum—the first part of the small intestine. The pancreas secretes digestive juices, or enzymes, into the duodenum through...
Primary biliary cirrhosis is a disease that slowly destroys the liver’s bile ducts. Bile is a substance produced in the liver that helps digest fat in the small intestine and remove toxins from the body. When the ducts are...
What is autoimmune hepatitis?
Autoimmune hepatitis is a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks liver cells. This immune response causes inflammation of the liver, also called hepatitis. Researchers think a genetic factor may make some people more susceptible...
What is Jaundice?
Jaundice is not an illness, but a medical condition in which too much bilirubin – a compound produced by the breakdown of hemoglobin from red blood cells – is circulating in the blood. This excess of bilirubin...
What is hemochromatosis?
Hemochromatosis is one of the most common genetic disorders in the United States. It is an inherited condition in which the body absorbs and stores too much iron. The extra iron builds up in several organs, especially...
What is liver cancer?
Liver cancer refers to the growth of malignant tumors in liver tissue. Cancer that starts in the liver is called primary liver cancer. Cancer that spreads to the liver from another organ is called metastatic liver cancer.
What are...
What is Fatty Liver?
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) describes a range of conditions involving the liver that affect people who drink little or no alcohol.
The mildest type is simple fatty liver (steatosis), an accumulation of fat within your liver...
