What is biliary hypertension?

Current trends in morbidity around the world reflect the spread of pathologies of the biliary system. The lifestyle of a person who keeps up with the times involves poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. In addition to this, health is undermined by burdened heredity. This background is favorable for toxic and infectious liver damage with many complications. Biliary hypertension, as a consequence of obstructive jaundice, develops rapidly and steadily.

Disease pathogenesis

Increased pressure in the ducts of the liver occurs with a malignant lesion of both the detoxifying organ and the gallbladder. This condition is complicated by obstructive jaundice in most cases. Most often, the location of the tumor of the pancreas falls on its head, which mediates the signs of increased pressure due to compression of the ducts. Additional pressure is created by obstructive objects - stones and polyps. In response to this, the biliary ducts tend to expand for their full functioning. All this causes the development of hypertension, additional pressure to which gives the resistance of the vessels.

Pathology is difficult to diagnose and can be detected already at advanced stages of its development. Its hidden and imperceptible until a certain point, the symptoms allow the disease to develop and form complications, which are paid attention to in the first place most often.

Patients weaken and cannot perform their usual work, they are tormented by dyspeptic disorders and unbearable abdominal pain.

Such a complex of clinical manifestations should be an immediate reason to consult a doctor, since only timely diagnosis determines a favorable outcome in the elimination of the pathological focus.

Surgical treatment of emergency execution generates additional complications that lead to a decrease in the quality of life and, sometimes, death.

Etiological reasons

Obstructed outflow of bile in biliary hypertension can occur at any age, but women have a greater predisposition to it. Hypertension in the arterial bed or bile ducts often depends on the psycho-emotional status of a person. Naturally, stress and overexertion do not provoke high blood pressure on their own, but their exclusion will reduce the risk of complications and shorten the duration of the disease.

The bile necessary for digestion is produced in the liver, contains metabolic products and is excreted through a complex system of ducts. The intrahepatic ducts, the common bile duct, and the cystic duct, together with the gallbladder, form the hepatobiliary system. An increase in pressure in one of the departments of the system causes a certain clinic, similar to any duct.

But the causes of pathology can vary significantly:

1. Tumor formations of various origins. Regardless of the nature of the tumor, the formation can interfere with the natural discharge of bile, which will cause signs of hypertension. A pathological formation can be located in the duct itself, but it can also occur in closely located organs, which will lead to compression of the bile ducts from their side.
2. In the bile ducts, helminths and other parasites can linger, forming a barrier to the normal discharge of digestive secretions.
3. Systemic diseases of the liver and ducts provoke the formation of stones and complex hard particles that can get stuck in the passages and cause obstructive jaundice, combined with hypertension.
4. Blocking of bile at various levels of the biliary system is possible with congenital anomalies of the hepatic passages. The ducts can be narrowed, or may be completely impassable, which requires surgical treatment.

In medical practice, the detection of hypertension of the hepatic ducts forces us to look for the underlying disease that led to it.

Therefore, it is important not to miss the signs indicating the pathology of the ducts in the liver:

1. Disorders of the stool in the direction of its instability and unformedness. Fecal masses lose their color, since it is the pigment elements of the bile secretion that are responsible for their coloring.
2. Patients notice icteric staining of the skin and whites of the eyes. Often, yellowness of the skin is accompanied by excruciating itching, scratching which does not bring relief. Difficulty in the excretion of bile leads to its excessive absorption into the blood and deposition in the skin. Aggressive bile acids irritate sensitive nerve endings, which provokes the sensation of itchy skin.
3. Bile secretion enzymes are more responsible for the digestion and absorption of fats, so their deficiency leads to bloating and increased gas formation after eating a meal high in saturated fat.

If the obstruction to the outflow of bile is small, then normal digestion and detoxification in the liver does not occur completely, but it is sufficient for the normal functioning of the body. Thus, hypertension may go unnoticed for a long time, but its symptoms will increase with the growth of a tumor, parasite or solid formation.

Diagnostics and therapy

Simple and non-invasive procedures that do not cause pain to patients help to identify a dangerous condition of high pressure of the hepatic passages.

Ultrasound examination reveals a pathological increase in the normal size of the liver. An experienced eye may notice an abnormal dilation of the ducts and an enlarged gallbladder. Ultrasound helps to distinguish between an obstruction to the outflow of bile and establish its nature. Treatment of the disease after a competent diagnosis will be as effective as possible and bring quick relief.

If it is difficult to make a diagnosis on ultrasound, an x-ray may be additionally prescribed. It gives a complete picture of the course of the ducts by means of a contrast agent that is retained in the walls of the ducts and can be reflected on an x-ray. Informative for biliary hypertension and duodenal probing. The bile secreted during the study helps to judge the intensity of its secretion and its volume about the state of the liver and its passages. A decrease in its volume and rate of excretion indicates difficulties in the outflow of bile.

The etiological causes of the disease determine the treatment of hypertension and its radicality. The elimination of any obstacle, even an ordinary one, is possible only through its elimination. As for the medical field, it is possible to eliminate a mechanical obstacle with the help of surgical intervention. With regard to neoplasms, such treatment will eliminate both the underlying disease and relieve symptoms in the absence of metastatic spread of the tumor focus.

Surgical intervention in the case of pathologies of the hepatobiliary system in modern medicine is carried out in innovative ways, which should not be feared.

Minimally invasive therapy using special equipment practically does not leave long healing wounds and scars, it is carried out quickly and under spinal anesthesia. There are options for conservative therapy aimed at lowering total cholesterol and normalizing biochemical blood tests.

High pressure in the hepatobiliary system becomes a symptomatic indicator of pathological foci. Effective treatment of this disease is possible after the elimination or correction of the underlying disease. Modern technologies of low-traumatic surgeries make it easy to eliminate the causes of biliary hypertension with its painful symptoms.