[Clinical aspects of liver cirrhoses and its complications and diagnostic problems]

Liver cirrhosis is the end-stage of chronic liver disease with a prevalence of 0.5-0.8 percent in the German population. The main causes are chronic viral hepatitis B and C and alcohol abuse. Liver cirrhosis is often oligosymptomatic and frequently only diagnosed when complications occur (laboratory tests, ultrasound, computertomography or nuclear resonance imaging and histology). Complications include portal hypertension, gastrointestinal bleeding, ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatopulmonary syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy and hepatocellular carcinoma. Therapeutic management should mainly focus on the treatment of the underlying chronic liver disease in a precirrhotic stage. In the case of cirrhosis, prevention and treatment of complications are clinically most important.