Sat in a busy coffee shop within Queen Alexandra Hospital, Dr Aspinall has met with me today to explain what the liver is, how it affects my body, and the alarming statistics Portsmouth has when it comes to liver disease.
‘Portsmouthand the surrounding areas have the highest rates of hospital admissions from liver disease in the whole South East region,’ says Dr Richard Aspinall, Consultant Hepatologist atQueenAlexandraHospital.
‘Our population has death rates from liver cirrhosis that are above national average and are the highest in the region,’ says Richard, before telling me that of the three most common causes of chronic liver disease - alcohol misuse, fatty liver disease, which is related to obesity, and hepatitis C; we again have the highest rates.
How has this happened? I ask Richard. ‘A quarter of us drink at levels that could put our health at risk, and regularly drinking more than the recommended amount over a long period can damage your liver and potentially lead to Alcoholic Liver Disease.’
Richard says women should drink no more than two-three units a day, while men should drink no more than three-four units. To put this fact into context, a large 250ml glass of wine is three units and a pint of cider is 3.4 units.
‘The best advice I could give would be to give your liver two days in a row without alcohol each week, and to not save several days allowance and drink it all at once,’ says Richard before passing me a leaflet about the liver and the important role it plays in keeping a person ticking by healthily.
The leaflet explains that the liver is the biggest organ inside the body and that it does hundreds of essential jobs to keep the body functioning. It fights infections and diseases, destroys poisons and drugs, which includes alcohol; and processes food once it has been digested.
‘With such alarming statistics in Portsmouth, Queen Alexandra has been working hard over the past 18 months to develop a specialist liver disease service that will tackle the problem and encourage healthy lifestyle choices to make liver diseases less likely,’ says Richard.
‘This includes two consultant hepatologists, two hepatology nurse specialists and a team of four dedicated alcohol nurses.
‘We've also started a new locally-based antiviral service to treat people with hepatitis B & C, and established a satellite liver transplant service so patients can be managed locally both before and after a liver transplantation, minimising the time patients and their families have to travel to far-away transplant centres,’ says Richard.
Hepatitis affects over 700,000 people in the UK. What else can I do to look after my liver? I ask Richard once again.
‘Take small steps to ensure you don’t catch viruses that can cause liver damage such as hepatitis B and C. These viruses are easy to catch through blood to blood contact, and once you have them they’re hard to get rid of.
‘You could protect yourself by never sharing razors, nail scissors or toothbrushes. Covering wounds, especially when you play sport; only using licensed tattoo and piercing studios and making sure all equipment used has been sterilised, and never sharing drug equipment.’
Richard says there is a vaccine available to protect against hepatitis B.
And with that, my time with Richard is up and I feel shocked at what little knowledge I had about the liver before our meet.
Great reading Capt by your Son!
|
