Liver Pathology and Alcohol: Drug & Alcohol Abuse Reviews: 2 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089603206X ISBN 13: 9780896032064

Publisher: Humana, 1991

Synopsis

Alcohol and other drugs of abuse are major contributing factors to liver disease and its pathology. Alcoholic cirrhosis causes thousands of deaths each year in the United States, and encourages liver replacement. A better understanding of the mechanisms of liver pathology will significantly aid basic researchers and physicians in treating and preventing liver damage. This book is designed especially for those researchers wishing to understand alcoholic liver disease. Therefore the role of alcohol in changing nutrition and its nutritional effects on liver disease are reviewed. The generation of free radicals during alcohol use has been found to be an important cause of membrane changes, of cancer development, and of lipid alterations-and thus of liver pathology. In addition to alcohol, other drugs of abuse, including morphine, cocaine, marijuana, and caffeine have also been shown to be significant contributors to liver pathology. The prevalence of drug and alcohol use and abuse today means that liver disease will continue as a major social and medical problem. The explanation of its biological origins cannot fail to help us better understand and treat the disease in the years to come.

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Review

...the techniques which have been used, the emphasis on free radicals and damage produced by them, are of general pathological interest and this book would certainly not be out of place in a pathology library.-Journal of Medical Microbiology

Synopsis

Alcohol and other drugs of abuse are major factors in the development of liver disease. Cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol abuse causes thousands of deaths annually in the US. This, in turn, creates a higher demand for liver transplantation. Liver Pathology and Alcohol, the second volume in Humana's new Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews series, strives to create a better understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced liver disease, and thus to significantly aid physicians and researchers in the prevention and treatment of liver damage. Chapters focus on a wide variety of topics related to hepatic disease caused by - or due in large part to - the abuse of alcohol and other substances. Topics include: the role of alcohol in changing nutrition direct nutritional effects of alcohol on the liver brain liver relationships generation of free radicals the role of free radicals in membrane changes, carcinogenesis, and lipid alterations liver adaptation to alcohol consumption influence of alcohol on skeletal muscle xanthine oxidase liver enzyme changes fetal alcohol syndrome other drugs of abuse, such as morphine, cocaine, marijuana, and caffeine.

The prevalence of substance use and abuse in today's society suggests a steady increase in the incidence of liver disease - a major health problem that can only lessen if we become better able to understand and treat it. Ronald R. Watson's timely new volume on Liver Pathology and Alcohol makes a significant contribution to this process.

Edition details

• Publisher: Humana
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 089603206X
• ISBN 13: 9780896032064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 632
• Editor: Watson Roland R.