Why does liver cancer cause hepatorenal syndrome

If a liver cancer patient has a large amount of ascites, edema all over the body, and little or even no urine output, the doctor will say that the patient has hepatorenal syndrome. So, what is hepatorenal syndrome?

Hepatorenal syndrome is a serious complication of liver cancer. After liver cancer patients develop hepatorenal syndrome, the function of their kidneys is affected, but there is no obvious lesion in the liver itself. Instead, it is secondary renal dysfunction caused by liver dysfunction. Once the liver function improves, the kidney function will also recover. This pathological condition is called hepatorenal syndrome.

When the condition of liver cancer patients is serious, due to portal hypertension and liver dysfunction causing hypoalbuminemia, a large amount of water in the blood leaks into the abdominal cavity, and the effective blood volume in the blood circulation is insufficient. In addition, the use of diuretics further aggravates the lack of effective blood volume. When the blood volume is insufficient, the small arteries in the kidneys will contract, the blood flow in the kidneys will decrease, and the blood perfusion in the glomeruli will be insufficient, and the water filtered by the kidneys will also decrease, causing oliguria and edema. Edema further aggravates hypoproteinemia, and ascites further increases, forming a vicious cycle of the disease, and hepatorenal syndrome is further aggravated.

The treatment of hepatorenal syndrome starts with the liver, improving liver function and correcting pathological changes caused by liver function, such as supplementing albumin, limiting water intake, and appropriately using drugs to promote liver function recovery. Once the liver function improves, hepatorenal syndrome will also improve.