Can I drink milk with a liver abscess?

Written by Zhang Wei Wei
Integrative Medicine
Updated on September 02, 2024
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Patients with liver abscess can drink milk if they are not allergic to it. The main symptoms of a liver abscess are abdominal pain and irregular high fever, and it is considered a consumptive disease. For such diseases, we must strengthen nutritional support treatment and adopt a digestible, high-protein diet to achieve the purpose of rapid improvement and cure of the disease. Milk is a food with relatively high protein content and is also easy to digest. If there is no milk allergy, patients with liver abscess can drink an appropriate amount of milk. About 250ml per day is beneficial for the rapid recovery of the liver abscess and for improving the body's immunity.

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Written by Zhang Wei Wei
Integrative Medicine
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Clinical manifestations of liver abscess

Clinical manifestations of liver abscess include irregular, purulent fever, especially noticeable in bacterial liver abscesses. The fever is irregular and typically high, preceded by chills, followed by persistent pain in the liver area, which worsens with deep breaths or movement. Depending on the location of the abscess, it can lead to corresponding respiratory and abdominal symptoms, often with a history of diarrhea. If the abscess ruptures, it can evolve into purulent peritonitis with pyothorax. Special signs include liver enlargement, and in the intercostal space corresponding to the abscess, there's localized edema and clear tenderness. Some patients may exhibit jaundice. If the abscess breaks into the chest cavity, lung abscesses can occur, or if it perforates into the abdominal cavity, peritonitis may develop.

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Integrative Medicine
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Can a liver abscess cause ascites?

Can liver abscess cause ascites? Some liver abscesses can cause ascites. Firstly, it must be understood why ascites occur. It is because the patient has poor resistance, internal infections, and is prone to worsened infections. A liver abscess involves significant energy consumption due to prolonged fever and intermittent fevers, which can reduce the liver’s capacity to synthesize albumin, leading to a decrease in colloid osmotic pressure within the blood vessels. This is accompanied by the formation of fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity. Therefore, when a patient with a liver abscess develops ascites, there is no need to be overly anxious or nervous. Treatment can involve vigorous anti-infection measures, supplementation with albumin, and other supportive treatments to improve the symptoms and alleviate the patient's ascites, facilitating a quicker recovery.

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Is a liver abscess serious? How is it treated?

If acute abdomen and peritonitis caused by liver abscesses, rupture, hemorrhage, or pyothorax, etc., liver abscesses are relatively severe. In these cases, the first steps should be the use of adequate antibiotics for a sufficient course, along with systemic supportive therapy, then controlling the inflammation and promoting the absorption of the inflammation. For conditions like rupture of liver abscesses or severe damage to the liver lobes that results in loss of normal function, surgical removal may also be considered. Additionally, for large liver abscesses that have perforated, causing peritonitis, pyothorax, or cholangiogenic liver abscess, while using systemic antibiotics, actively incising and draining the abscess should be considered. (Please use medications and treatment under the guidance of a doctor.)

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Integrative Medicine
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Will ferritin be high in hepatic abscess?

Will ferritin levels rise in cases of liver abscess? First, we need to understand the significance of ferritin testing. I can also tell you that ferritin does not necessarily increase during a liver abscess. The main form of iron in the body is present as serum ferritin. Clinically, its relationship with the aforementioned diseases is something we can discuss. The first one is related to iron-deficiency anemia. Generally, early stages of iron deficiency do not directly cause significant anemia, but they will lead to a reduction in iron stores. There are many methods for determining serum iron content in clinical laboratories, but none are as sensitive and reliable as serum ferritin. The second point is its relationship with tumors. Ferritin acts as a soluble tissue protein that stores iron in the body. It consists of a protein shell and an iron core, with the iron core having a strong capacity to bind and store iron, maintaining the supply of iron and the relative stability of hemoglobin. The liver is the site of synthesis of serum ferritin and also the organ that clears it. Normally, only a small amount is found in the serum, so during acute or chronic liver damage, or liver cancer, a noticeable increase occurs. Therefore, when liver abscesses affect liver function or cause destruction of liver cells, it can also lead to increased ferritin levels. However, in the early stages of a liver abscess, if treatment is proactive, ferritin levels might not increase.

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Treatment of liver abscess

The treatment of liver abscesses is divided into medical and surgical treatment. Medical treatment mainly involves antibiotic therapy. For bacterial liver abscesses, especially during the acute phase when the inflammation is localized and an abscess has not yet formed, or there are multiple small abscesses, aggressive conservative medical treatment should be given. This involves the use of high doses of antibiotics and general supportive therapy to control the absorption of inflammation. The second method is antibiotics combined with percutaneous puncture drainage. For a single, larger liver abscess, aspiration of pus can be performed under ultrasound guidance. After aspirating as much pus as possible, antibiotics can be injected into the abscess cavity, followed by repeated punctures over several days, or a tube can be placed to drain the pus. When the abscess shrinks and the fluid output decreases, the tube can be removed. The third method is antibiotics combined with surgical drainage. For larger liver abscesses that have a potential to rupture and cause complications such as acute peritonitis and pyothorax, surgical incision and drainage should be performed urgently, alongside the use of systemic antibiotics. The fourth approach is antibiotics combined with surgical resection. For chronic liver abscesses, or those whose abscess walls do not collapse after drainage, leaving a dead space, or with sinus tracts that continually discharge pus without healing and where liver lobe destruction is severe with loss of normal functions, hepatic lobectomy can be performed.