Alcohol & Enlarged Liver

Long-term heavy alcohol consumption causes liver disease. Symptoms may include an enlarged liver.

Alcoholic liver disease risk

• For men, drinking more than three to six beers or shots per day for 10 years is associated with a high risk of alcoholic liver disease. Women have the same risk with only half that consumption.

Enlarged liver

• One symptom of alcoholic liver disease is an enlarged liver, called hepatomegaly. The enlarged liver can be painful or tender.

What it means

• An enlarged liver can be a sign or symptom of liver disease. If a doctor finds an enlarged liver in a patient who drinks alcohol heavily, tests for alcoholic liver disease, such as blood tests, may be performed.

Related problems

• An enlarged liver often goes along with fatty liver disease, which can lead to death of liver tissue and cancer. Cirrhosis of the liver, or liver scarring, may be found with a liver enlarged due to alcohol use.

Treatment

• Abstinence from alcohol is the best treatment. To succeed in "going sober," the patient will need social support and possibly therapy and/or medication.

Prognosis

• Treating alcoholism can lead to better health and longer life.

  An enlarged liver can be reversed within six weeks if the patient becomes completely sober. Fatty liver disease is reversible, but cirrhosis usually is not.