Hepatomegaly is the condition of having an enlarged liver. It is a nonspecific medical sign having many causes, which can broadly be broken down into infection, direct toxicity, hepatic tumours, or metabolic disorder. Often, hepatomegaly will present as an abdominal mass. Depending on the cause, it may sometimes present along with jaundice.

Diagnosis

After a thorough medical history and physical examination, blood tests should be drawn. An important series of blood tests are the liver function tests, which give a good impression of the patient's broad metabolic picture.

An ultrasound of the liver can reliably detect a dilated biliary duct system, which helps distinguish parenchymal liver disease from extrahepatic bile duct obstruction. Ultrasound can also detect the characteristic texture of a cirrhotic liver, and can guide fine needle aspiration of cysts, abscesses and tumours.

Computed tomography (CT) can help obtain more accurate anatomical information, and is unaffected by the obesity or the presence of bowel gases.

Common Causes

Infective

• Glandular fever (Infectious mononucleosis) This is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
• Hepatitis (Although not all hepatitis viruses cause hepatomegaly)
• Liver abscess(pyogenic abscess and amoebic abscess)
• Malaria
• Amoeba infections
• Hydatid cyst
• Leptospirosis
• Actinomycosis

Neoplastic

• Hemangiomas
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Myeloma
• Leukaemia
• Lymphoma

Cirrhotic

• Portal
• Biliary
• Cardiac
• Haemochromatosis

Metabolic

• Fatty infiltration
• Amyloidosis
• Gaucher's disease
• Niemann Pick Type C disease

Drugs and Toxins

• alcoholism
• poisoning
• drugs

Congenital

• Hemolytic anemia
• Riedel's lobe
• Polycystic disease
• Cori's disease

Others

• Hunter syndrome
• Zellweger's syndrome
• Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I deficiency
• Right ventricular failure

See also

• Hepatosplenomegaly

External links

• National Institute of Health's Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia: Hepatomegaly
• Merck Manual: Hepatomegaly