Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Abnormal enlargement of the liver and spleen. Hepatosplenomegaly is typically associated with chronic liver diseases.

An abnormally enlarged liver. Hepatomegaly can be caused by heart failure, blockage of blood vessels from the liver, or be a sign of chronic liver disease.

Cancer originating in the liver, in liver cells. More often called hepatocarcinoma or hepatocellular carcinoma. From hepat-, the liver + -oma, tumor = a liver tumor.

The field of liver disease. The liver is the body’s largest organ and hepatology is a large field. It includes, but is not limited to, the study of acute and chronic hepatitis, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, genetic and metabolic liver diseases and their complications, liver cancer, liver transplantation, drug metabolism (which depends largely upon the liver), and immunology as it pertains to the liver. Historically,…

Having to do with the liver plus the gallbladder, bile ducts, or bile. For example, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can be applied to the hepatobiliary system. Hepatobiliary makes sense since “hepato-” refers to the liver and “-biliary” refers to the gallbladder, bile ducts, or bile.

Prefix or combining form used before a consonant to refer to the liver. From the Greek hepar, liver.

It was formerly believed that a virus isolated from rare blood samples was able to cause hepatitis, and this virus was designated hepatitis F virus. Further investigation has failed to confirm the existence of this virus. There is no known hepatitis F virus.

Inflammation of the liver due to the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is usually spread via blood transfusion (rare), hemodialysis, and needle sticks. The damage hepatitis C does to the liver can lead to cirrhosis and its complications as well as cancer. Transmission of the virus by sexual contact is rare. At least half of hepatitis C patients develop chronic hepatitis C infection. Diagnosis…

Inflammation of the liver, irrespective of the cause. Hepatitis is caused by a number of conditions, including drug toxicity, immune diseases, and viruses.

Hepatic steatosis: a term used to refer to the buildup of fat within cells of the liver. This is a general term that simply refers to fat in the liver. Fatty liver can be due to alcohol use disorder and heavy consumption of alcohol as well as a group of other conditions referred to as nonalcoholic…